


Coffee on Coruscant

by ChangeTheCircumstances



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Timeline, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/M, M/M, Mostly Fluff, coffee shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2016-04-19
Packaged: 2018-05-31 03:42:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6453991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChangeTheCircumstances/pseuds/ChangeTheCircumstances
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a different timeline where clones and Force-Wielders are practically born and bred for battle, many suddenly have to find a new purpose in life as the Great Galactic War finally ends and they are given the right to choose their own paths.</p><p>One of those is Captain Rex of the 501st who somehow gets pulled into working at CT-K4F3 with his former comrades, Echo and Fives. The work is normal enough and maybe even a bit boring but the last thing he expects is the sudden arrival of an old friend and commander.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. An Unusual Day

The Galactic War had gone on for decades. Some had been born and died during its time, never knowing a moment’s peace. Like many, Rex believed that he would not see the end of the war yet by the time he had reached twenty-four, the battles had stopped, the treaties had been made, and it was over.

For many in the Great Republic’s Army, no longer having a war to fight left them confused and unsure of where to go next. The Clones and the Force-Wielders had been born and bred (literally in the clones’ case) for fighting and without it, they were lost in a suddenly peaceful galaxy.

A number of ideas went through Rex’s mind as to what to do next yet before he even had anything in mind, two ARC Troopers that had been under his command, Fives and Echo, dragged him into the last place he would’ve thought of.

A coffee shop.

The only thing more shocking than their ridiculous idea was the fact that Rex went with it. Ultimately, he supposed it was because the urge to stay in the peacetime army didn’t really appeal to him. One thing he could admit was he was done with fighting and no one was in it that he would particularly want to stay with.

His general, Skywalker, had left. Now with the war over and the strict rules for clones and Force-Wielders lifted, he was able to make his involvement with that senator public and get married. General Kenobi had also left. For him, after finding out his once dead mentor, General Jinn, had been forced to go undercover instead, he’d promptly left to a) yell at the man for being “dead” for ten years and b) kiss the hell out of him because it was no secret that they had been involved before the undercover mission had occurred.

As for the 501st, Rex’s squad, they had all disbanded, going about their separate ways except for Fives and Echo who were inseparable anyways. Other than that, there were only two other people Rex probably would have stayed in the army for. One was Commander Cody. However, the moment Kenobi had declared he was leaving the army, Cody had followed right after him. There honestly hadn’t been a tighter comradery between a clone and Force-Wielder and if Cody had been the first to leave, Kenobi probably would have followed after him as well.

The last person Rex would have stayed in the army for was Commander Tano but she had gone AWOL two years ago with no sign of her since. Rex had heard rumors that she had gotten involved with the Rebels, a group separate of the Galactic Republic and the Separatists, but he had never found any proof.

If she had been a part of them though, at least Rex didn’t have to worry about her ever be reprimanded for going AWOL. All known Rebels had been pardoned due to their help in expunging the traitorous Chancellor that had actually been playing the Republic and the Separatists for years. Supposedly, without the Rebels, the Chancellor’s two-faced nature never would have been known and the war would have likely ended with the destruction of both the Republic and the Separatists.

As it stood now, both governments had banded together over the deceitful ways of the Chancellor and succeeded in their first peace treaty of eighty-five years. Now people could move from system to system with little trouble and planets could finally focus on personal world problems, improving their citizens’ well-being among other things.

And for Rex, his biggest worry was making sure he didn’t burn the coffee beans. It was certainly a plus from worrying about getting shot daily but to say he was exactly happy would have been a lie. He didn’t mind working in the coffee shop, cleverly named CT-K4F3 by Echo, but there was a slight emptiness to Rex that was undeniable. It didn’t help that nothing seemed to fill it either.

But at least he was on Coruscant, a familiar place and possibly the closest thing Rex had called home before the end of the war, and at least he had Echo and Fives. Even if he sometimes wanted to ring their necks.

One good example of this was when Rex was glaring at Fives as he entered the coffee shop thirty minutes past their opening time.

“You’re late again.”

“You’re late again,” Echo repeated.

Fives sighed. “I woke up late, alright?”

“I don’t understand how you could have been one of the best soldiers I’ve ever seen and now you have trouble getting out of bed,” sighed Rex. “Why don’t you wake him up in the morning Echo? You guys live together after all.”

“I do,” replied Echo. “He just goes straight back to sleep.”

“Well next time it happens, make sure you drag him back him here by the feet if you have to.”

“Feet if I have to. Got it,” Echo replied as Fives rolled his eyes.

On this particular day, Fives moved behind the counter and went in the back as Rex made sure they had everything they needed behind the counter and Echo stayed at the register.

Being run and owned by three clones, CT-K4F3 had brought a very specific clientele for a while. However, six months after the finished peace treaty, other groups besides clones started to come in and now they often had an extremely diverse group of customers scattered about. It made for a very interesting atmosphere, something for which Rex was thankful for. It helped make staying in one place easier as he at least got the chance to mingle with multiple races and new faces every day.

Of course, they still had their regulars and, seeing as it was the middle of the week, Obi-Wan would be arriving just past thirteen hundred hours. Rex looked forward to it and let the upcoming meeting squelch his mild annoyance with Fives and Echo as they bantered back and forth.

However, as a clock by the counter struck thirteen, Obi-Wan didn’t come in through the door. It made Rex frown as the man was usually very punctual and as several minutes passed, Obi-Wan still didn’t show. Instead, one of the tallest humans Rex had ever seen walked in.

Rex always made it a point of being polite and treated each customer respectively but he couldn’t help but stare at the man. Something was trying to come out of his mouth, it was on the very tip of his tongue and the thought remained just in the back of his head. As the man ordered two coffees (Rex noted that one was specifically the way Obi-Wan usually got), it finally clicked.

“Qui-Gon Jinn?”

The tall man looked curiously at Rex, just as Echo gave Rex a questioning look. However, Rex didn’t focus on that, instead continuing to stare at the man. He had only seen him once and had never officially met him.

“You are General Jinn, correct? And I didn’t just embarrass myself right?”

The man chuckled, the noise deep and rich and when he spoke, Rex was surprised by the softness of the voice. “Not a general anymore, but yes, I am Qui-Gon.”

Echo automatically went about getting the two orders of coffee ready as it was clear Rex wasn’t going to do it and Rex automatically moved to the register. Thankfully there was no one behind Qui-Gon so he didn’t have to worry about other customers. He was about ready to introduce himself but Qui-Gon beat him to it.

“You are Rex correct? Former captain of the 501st?”

“That would be,” Rex replied. “That over there is Echo.”

Qui-Gon gave a polite nod and smile towards Echo but quickly refocused his attention to Rex. “Obi-Wan sends his apologies for being unable to make it. A teacher called in sick and Obi-Wan was asked to substitute for their class.”

After the war, Obi-Wan had gone to teaching history, something Rex thought suited him far better than being a general. “Only a temporary thing though, right?”

Qui-Gon chuckled. “Yes, he should be back to his normal schedule next week. I must say, it’s good to put a face to the name though. Obi-Wan and Cody have talked a great deal about you.”

“The same goes to you. You teach those self-defense classes with Cody, correct?”

He nodded.

“I thought so. Cody’s mentioned it to me a few times. Apparently you’re a formidable swordsman.”

“I wouldn’t say that, but you are certainly welcome to come to one of our classes. Whether to watch or participate is up to you,” Qui-Gon said.

“Well thank for the offer. I just might…” Rex trailed off, his eyes zeroing in on something he hadn’t noticed before.

Qui-Gon’s gaze followed his line of sight and automatically tried to hide it. However, he quickly relaxed, there being no point as Rex had clearly seen it. “Curses, and Obi-Wan was looking forward to telling you,” he chuckled.

“You’re engaged,” Rex said. “Damn, I never would have thought to see the day when Kenobi would get hitched.”

“Well, you are certainly not alone in that line of thought.”

“Hey, if it helps, I’ll pretend I didn’t see a thing and I’ll let Obi-Wan shyly tell me all about it the next time we meet,” Rex grinned.

“You are to kind,” Qui-Gon replied. Just then, Echo walked over and passed Qui-Gon the two cups. “Thank you. It was nice meeting you Rex, and you too Echo.”

Echo gave a little wave as Qui-Gon turned and left.

“He seemed nice,” Echo said. “So what’s with that look?”

“What look?” asked Rex.

“That look. The moment he turned his back, you looked like you’d downed something sour as all get out.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Echo just rolled his eyes and pushed Rex out of the way, retaking his spot at the register. Rex shook his head and got things ready as the next customer came in.

Sadly, Rex did know what Echo was talking about. That emptiness he usually felt had surged upwards at the sight of seeing the engagement ring. Of course he felt happy for Obi-Wan but for whatever reason, seeing that small piece of metal had just made Rex feel very isolated and alone.

He tried to analyze the feeling, see if it made sense, but nothing was really coming to mind so he pushed it aside and focused on work.

Rex expected the rest of the day to be fairly normal. Yet at seventeen hundred hours as Rex was walking around cleaning tables, a woman walked in that he recognized right away. She’d been to CT-K4F3 about three other times and her arrival was unexpected.

Some people stared at her, which was to be expected as she was one of the most well-loved politicians in all the Galaxy.

“Senator Skywalker,” Fives said from the counter, having switched with Echo earlier. “It’s good to see you. Anakin with you?”

“Just me today. And I told you to call me Padmé,” she smiled.

“Of course…Padmé. So, what will we be having?”

After Padmé ordered her drink, Rex walked over. They both gave each other a deep hug and as they pulled apart, Rex said, “Now, I don’t want to assume anything but…”

Padmé gave a shy smile. “Please, assume away.”

“Are you expecting?”

Fives eyes went wide.

Ducking her head, Padmé gave a quick nod, her cheeks flushing in a pleasant blush. “I am.”

“Echo! Hey Echo!” Fives yelled out. “There’re going to be little Skywalkers running around!”

Echo popped out from the back and rushed up. “Little Skywalkers running around?”

Padmé laughed and nodded again. “Yes, there will be.”

“God help the Galaxy,” sighed Fives.

Rex hit him for that but everyone knew that the words were only in good jest. “We’re really happy for you and Anakin,” Rex said. “I’m assuming he knows?”

“Yes. He was overjoyed when he found out.”

“Did someone have to restrain him from hugging you to death?” asked Fives.

“Yeah, did someone have to restrain him?” Echo questioned.

“No,” Padmé giggled, “though it was certainly getting there.”

“Of course it was. His emotions just run him,” chuckled Rex. He grabbed the coffee from Fives and passed it over to Padmé. “Any chance you can stay and chat or do you gotta go run off now?”

“Sadly I have a meeting in about thirty minutes,” sighed Padmé, her tone suggesting that it wasn’t going to be an easy one, “but you were on the way to the office so I figured why not. It was good to see you and I’ll make sure to drag Anakin back here sometime soon once he’s back on planet.”

“That’s right. Its podracing season isn’t,” Rex replied. Unlike others who had gone into actual professions or simply stayed in the army, Anakin had chosen his love of sports instead. He was a Galaxy wide champion and it wasn’t uncommon for him to be off planet during the season. “Do you know when his next race is?”

“Five days from now,” Padmé replied. “Well, I’d best be going. I’ll catch up with you three later. It was good to see you all.”

“You too Padmé,” they said in unison and after Rex hugged her, Echo and Fives came out from behind the counter to give her hugs as well before she left.

Once she was gone, Echo gave Rex a knowing look but thankfully didn’t say anything. Rex had felt his face drop the moment Padmé was out of sight. He didn’t need Echo pointing it out again. That emptiness inside him had simply surged forward once more upon hearing Padmé was pregnant. He hated that it did, that Obi-Wan’s and her happiness had made him oddly sad, yet Rex still couldn’t find reason for it. Pushing the emotions to the back of his mind, Rex continued onwards, deciding that _now_ it would at least be a normal end to the day.

At twenty hundred hours, a surge of customers came in as expected for their monthly poetry night. It had been Echo’s idea and for a good thirty minutes, the three clones were busy making orders for all the new customers. However, after that, it slowed down as everyone settled in and people began taking the mike that had been placed in a small area, cleared of tables.

As the poetry started up, Rex took the position in the back and began going over finances and paperwork and typical stuff like that as Echo and Fives manned the front. Rex expected to have a good hour to himself but after thirty minutes had passed, Fives was coming back, gesturing wildly for him to come up front.

“What’s—”

“Shh!” hushed Fives. He gestured again and Rex let out a large sigh.

Shaking his head, he moved out of the back to the area behind the counter. He raised an eyebrow at Fives but Echo just pointed towards where the poetry people were. Both had wide-eyed expressions and looked about ready to jump up and down in excitement.

Resisting the urge to beat them, Rex looked to where they were pointing and—

He suddenly found he couldn’t breathe.

All he could do was stare at the Togruta as the words slowly drifted into his ears.

“…But this broken piece can heal./It has already begun to form/Now that I am here.”

The words ended to polite clapping and the speaker gave a small bow before moving away from the mike. Instead of taking a seat, she walked over to the counter and a large smile broke across her face.

“It’s good to see you Rex,” said Ahsoka Tano.

Rex just stared, unable to find the right words to say.

And he had thought the day would be normal.

“What? Two years and I don’t even get a smile—woah!”

Rex reached over the counter and pulled Ahsoka over before she could do anything. He hugged her tight but suddenly broke the embrace and stepped back.

“Um…sorry about that Commander.”

“Why? That was the kind of welcome that I was hoping for,” grinned Ahsoka and she quickly hugged Rex back.

He hesitated but Ahsoka’s words of, “I’m not your Commander anymore,” helped Rex to relax and he quickly put his arms back around Ahsoka.

This time he didn’t want to detach himself from her but he forced himself to as she greeted both Fives and Echo.

“We didn’t know if you were even still alive. Some said you were dead,” Fives said.

“Yeah and dear Force am I happy that’s not true,” replied Echo. “Where have you been?”

“Here and there,” she said with a sly smile.

“Isn’t it risky, you being back on Coruscant?” asked Rex. “You did go AWOL after all.”

“I actually would have come sooner but I just got my official pardon from Chancellor Organa,” Ahsoka replied.

“So you were a part of the Rebels, weren’t you,” Fives claimed. “I thought you were. It didn’t make sense, you leaving without a reason.”

Ahsoka nodded. “I was. I’ll gladly tell you more but something tells me the fellow customers may hurt us if we keep talking.”

Reluctantly, Rex nodded. “Yeah, probably. You can stay back here with us if you want though.”

“I would love to,” she said with a smile.

Rex couldn’t help but smile back. He almost turned silent but couldn’t stop himself from asking a question that had appeared on his tongue. “Why didn’t you just come over and grab Fives or Echo? Why’d you read a poem and how’d you even know it was poetry night?”

“Had to do some research when I came back, figure out where everyone was and all that,” Ahsoka explained in a whisper. “And besides, if there’s one thing that I learned from General Skywalker, it’s how to make an unexpected entrance.”

It was difficult not to laugh at that as a number of memories of the war came back to him and the trouble that Anakin, Ahsoka, and himself had managed to get into. This time, looking at Ahsoka’s smile and seeing how happy she was standing next to him and Fives and Echo, the emptiness inside him did not balloon outwards but instead became just a little smaller.


	2. The First Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thank you for anyone who has come and read this. I'm glad you're enjoying it and hope you enjoy this chapter. Also, changed the number of chapters to six.

It wasn’t until they were closing up shop that Rex and the other two had a chance to properly sit down and talk with Ahsoka. She talked about how she had seen evidence of the Chancellor’s Force-sensitive abilities and use of the Dark Side. Knowing that trying to voice such knowledge would only end in death, she ran instead. Believing that the Rebels were against the Chancellor, Ahsoka did research on them, learning as much as she could before finally deciding to trust them with the information she held.

Interestingly enough, she’d met with Qui-Gon repeatedly (as his undercover mission had entailed some involvement with the Rebels) and had basically worked behind the scenes in trying to reveal the betrayal of Palpatine. By the time she was finishing the entire story, it was nearing twenty-four hundred hours and even then she hadn’t managed to give them all the details.

“Does Anakin know?” asked Fives.

She shook her head. “No. Padmé does. She had to since the Senate voted yes for my pardon, but I want to tell Anakin in person. Just like I wanted to tell all of you face to face. Otherwise I would have just sent a transmission.”

“Well I for one am glad you didn’t,” grinned Echo. “It’s definitely nicer, having you here.”

“How long are you staying?” asked Rex.

“Yeah, how long?” Echo said.

“Honestly, I’m not sure,” Ahsoka admitted. “Now that the politics have been smoothed out, I’m free, just like any other clone or Force-Wielder. I really don’t know what to do.”

“That’s alright. Neither did Rex,” Fives replied. “We literally had to drag him here.”

“I would have come to my own decision eventually,” huffed Rex.

Fives snorted. “Yeah, maybe by the time you were sixty. But believe me when I say that trying to figure out what to do with your life has been hard on a lot of people. I mean, you could go back into the peacetime army if you can’t decide.”

“Perhaps but I think I’ve seen enough of the battlefield for now,” Ahsoka admitted. “I think I just have to explore my interests, see what I really love.”

“Probably a better idea than letting these two knuckleheads drag you into anything,” Rex replied as Fives rolled his eyes. “So, where you staying?”

“Nowhere right now. I only just arrived back on Coruscant.”

Echo frowned. “Where are your things?”

Ahsoka pointed to the small bag that she had brought in with her.

“That’s less than what you had while in the army,” Fives exclaimed.

“More than I’ve had at other times,” Ahsoka shrugged.

“Well do you have an idea as to _where_ you’re staying?” asked Rex.

“No. If I can’t find somewhere tonight I figured there’s always some comfy alley that I can sleep in.”

Rex looked at her. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. “What? It’s a last minute thing. I don’t expect anyone to just put me up. Besides, everyone here knows we’ve been in way worse places than the streets of Coruscant.”

“It doesn’t mean you should just sleep out on the streets though,” countered Fives. “It’s decided. You’re staying at Rex’s place.”

“Wait hold—” Rex tried.

“You’re staying at Rex’s place,” repeated Echo. “Great idea.”

“But-well you can-obviously but you don’t-wait. You know what, you do have to. You’re a former Commander of the Great Republic’s Army, a member of the Rebels. You’re a war hero and you’re not going to be sleeping on the streets like a nobody. Clones and Force-Wielders have gone through to much to end up sleeping in the streets,” Rex got out.

Ahsoka put up her hands, somewhat shocked at Rex’s outburst. “Alright! You don’t have to tell me twice. Good Force it was just going to be for a night guys.”

“Nope, not even a night,” Echo replied. “You’re staying at Rex’s and that’s the end of it.”

Ahsoka snorted. “Hey, I’m not arguing. But I’m guessing we should probably leave now. This place opens at seven tomorrow after all.”

Fives nodded in agreement. “That is true. You’ll just have to come by tomorrow then so we can talk more.”

“We’ll close up shop here Rex,” Echo quickly said. “You and Ahsoka go on.”

Rex rolled his eyes. “Fine, but this doesn’t give you an excuse to get up late Fives, got it?”

Fives just gave him a smirk and started putting up the chairs.

Shaking his head, Rex resisted the urge to groan and stood up. “Just give me one quick second and then we can head out,” he said.

Grabbing his things, he met Ahsoka at the front door. She opened it for him and they both walked out into Coruscant’s nightlife. It was fairly quiet on the particular street they walked down, most people coming to the area during the day.

As they walked, Rex couldn’t help but say, “If you don’t want to stay at my place you don’t have to. You’re still not sleeping on the streets but I can find somewhere else if you want. I did kind of make an outburst back there and Echo and Fives did just throw that idea at you.”

“Well I don’t want to be a burden—”

“You could never be a burden sir-Ahsoka. Sorry. Old habits die hard and all that.”

Ahsoka just smiled but her face dropped and she bit her bottom lip. “Honestly though, if this is putting you out in anyway—”

“No it’s fine. You needn’t worry about that Ahsoka,” said Rex, looking at her curiously. When her face didn’t change, he added, “I can say it about a dozen more times if it helps.”

She snorted, covering the smile that emerged on her face. “I think I’ll be fine without that. I just…I honestly wasn’t sure how this would all go.”

“What do you mean?” asked Rex.

“Well I did just up and disappear two years ago. I figured there would probably be some anger pointed at me,” Ahsoka replied.

Rex opened his mouth to respond right away but stopped himself, realizing that the words on the tip of his tongue were lies. Instead, he turned silent for a moment before admitting, “At first I was angry. Really angry but that didn’t last for long. I just…I was sad when you left. Sad and confused as to why you didn’t say more, why you hadn’t asked me to come with you—”

“It would have put your life in danger.”

He gave her a look.

“Alright, more danger than usual but still. Doing a mission and going AWOL are two completely different things.”

Rex sighed. “I know and I do understand but…if you had just said something I would have come. You know that right?”

“That’s precisely why I didn’t ask,” Ahsoka said.

“Well…you’re here now. And that’s what matters. I hope you’ll be staying for a while.”

“Would you like me to stay?”

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I?” asked Rex.

She shrugged. “Just asking. I’m glad to hear it’s a yes though. And thank you for allowing me to stay at your place but I promise to find a hotel or something soon.”

“Don’t feel like you have to hurry or anything. Take your time.”

“Thank you Rex,” smiled Ahsoka. “So where exactly do you live?”

“Apartment complex. Just one more block and then we’ll be there.”

“It’s so weird to think that you have an apartment,” Ahsoka chuckled. “It’s weird to think that you really have anything.”

Rex snorted. “Don’t I know it. Took me weeks to finally get out of my armor and actually buy clothes.”

“I felt practically naked the first time I was without my uniform.”

“Yeah, and not having a strict schedule to adhere to—”

“I felt like I was going crazy,” Ahsoka finished. She laughed and shook her head. “As a Force-Wielder, I never thought I’d ever be free. Being born with the Force was practically a curse. You got picked up and shipped off to join the recruits at six months old, knowing that you’d die in battle.”

“What? And you think I was any luckier being born with this face?”

She laughed, “No probably not. Still, we’re right on the cusp of a new age. It’s so…incredible! There’s so much to do and see, whole worlds to _actually_ explore! Time to relax and rest and—are you laughing at me Captain?”

Rex made a stoic, bland face. “Not at all Commander Tano, sir!”

Both erupted into laughter and Ahsoka put one arm around Rex’s. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy in my life.”

“I don’t know, that time when that Rancor exploded onto us and we didn’t get a chance in the refresher until a week later? I’m pretty sure we were happy then,” Rex replied.

“Urgh, I’m pretty sure my nose is permanently messed up because of that. And we weren’t happy, we were _relieved_ ,” stressed Ahsoka.

“Well I _guess_. if I can’t choose that moment, then I’d have to agree with you though. This is definitely the happiest moment in my life.”

Ahsoka looked up at him. “You mean that, don’t you? You really did miss me.”

“How could I not,” replied Rex. “You were my Commander, my comrade, my right hand. You had my back more times than anyone else.”

“And you had mine.”

“Exactly. It was…it was like losing a limb or something when you disappeared. How could I not have missed you?”

Ahsoka paused in her walking and quickly grabbed hold of Rex again. “I’m sorry…I’m so sorry for putting you through that.”

“Hey, it couldn’t have been any easier on you either,” sighed Rex as he relaxed in her arms.

“Still…”

“Enough talking about the past. We got an actual future ahead of us to worry about.”

She grinned. “I suppose we do.”

They resumed their walk and finally made it to Rex’s place. His apartment was on the twenty-second floor. Considering the actual height of the building it wasn't that high of a floor and for him the windows just gave a nice view of the silver toned building across the street. The place was simple and rather plane yet watching the way Ahsoka’s face lit up made it seem like she’d walked into a palace instead. Rex didn’t quite understand how such a simple apartment could make her face do that but he was pleased it did anyways.

“This is the living room and kitchen, bathroom that away and my room right over there. You can sleep in my bed and—”

“Nonsense, I’ll sleep on the couch,” Ahsoka replied.

“But—”

“I’ll give you an order if I have to,” she said with a cheeky grin.

Rex laughed and decided to leave it at that. “Fine. Help yourself to the fridge and the refresher if you want. Uh, it’s late so if you don’t mind, I’m going to head off to bed now.”

“No problem. I probably should too. And thanks again for everything. It really means a lot.”

“Hey, I’m happy to help Ahsoka,” Rex said, giving her one last hug. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Sounds good. Good night.”

Smiling more than he had in a long time, Rex left for his room. He got dressed in simple sweats and a tank top and fell asleep almost the moment his head hit the ground, his body still use to the idea that he had to take advantage of every moment of sleep he got. Another aspect of the military that was still in his blood was the idea of sleeping in short bursts as well. Because of this, he woke at about four in the morning.

Usually he went right back to bed when that happened but seeing as Ahsoka was there, he decided to go and double check that she was alright.

Walking back into the main area, Rex leaned over the edge of the couch but didn’t find her on it. Instead, she was lying on the floor. Right away she stirred and looked up. “Something the matter?” she mumbled, her voice still wrought with sleep.

“I just woke up and thought I’d check on you but uh…why are you sleeping on the floor?”

Letting out a yawn and stretching, Ahsoka got up and sat on the couch. “It was to comfortable.”

Rex walked around the edge and sat next to her. “I’d laugh at you if I didn’t know exactly what you mean.”

“You don’t sleep on your bed, do you,” she snorted.

“Occasionally I can but for the most part no.”

“Blasted cave floors. I knew they were doing more harm than good.”

“What possible good could they have done?”

“No idea.”

Rex laughed, good and hard before easing back down. Looking at Ahsoka, he shook his head and muttered, “Force, I’m an idiot. I should have offered you something to sleep in.”

“I’ve worn this for weeks on end.”

“Well you shouldn’t have to anymore. Listen, I’m taking you out to get something proper.”

“Shopping with Rex. Now that certainly sounds like an interesting idea,” grinned Ahsoka. “But don’t you dare pay for me. I have received my earned credits for serving in the war. I’m not helpless here.”

“You could never be helpless,” snorted Rex. “And it’s usually busiest in the morning tomorrow so we can go sometime after lunch.”

“Sounds like a plan. Do you need to get back to sleep?”

“I’ve functioned on less.”

“Me too,” Ahsoka grinned. She turned, propping herself against one of the arms of the couch and tossed her feet into Rex’s lap, deterring him from getting up. “So…you work at a coffee shop, you have an apartment, who knew you could be so domestic.”

“Don’t patronize me.”

“I’m not. I’m teasing,” she replied with a defensive pout. “Honestly, I’m happy for you. It gives me hope.”

“Still feel like your freedom is going to be whisked away at some point?”

She nodded. “Makes me feel like I shouldn’t settle down or buy anything cause it’ll just get taken away again.”

“Yeah. I still kind of feel that way. It’s lessened a lot over the past months but it’s still there.”

“Like the sleeping on the floor?”

“Basically, though I think that may take longer to get use to.”

“I agree. At this point, just the idea that I may own a bed is exciting enough for me.”

Rex laughed. “Yeah, exciting and terrifying.”

“Like change. Or going up in front of those people at the café.”

“You’ve fought countless droids and Force-Wielders, nearly been frozen to death, jumped from unimaginable heights, dealt with the Senate, and you were scared of reading poetry in front of a few dorky people?”

“Hey,” Ahsoka said as she kicked at him, “it was my first time, alright? And it was something original too.”

“It was? I only came in during the last few lines. Would you mind reciting it again?”

Ahsoka grinned like she’d been waiting for him to ask that. “Not at all. Doesn’t have a title, at least, I haven’t really thought of one yet. But here it goes:

Saying last words, they never come.  
If I'd tried, the words would have continued,  
An endless stream full of nonsense and mirth.  
You would have come along to hear each one.  
Instead, pieces of me break off  
And those last words remain unspoken.  
Each step away contains another word I would have said  
And each word is just another cut, deeper than the last.

So a permanent pain remains.  
Growing larger as I stay away,  
And I cannot take it back  
For that would break other aspects.  
But the broken pieces of me start to heal.  
I have already begun to reform  
Now that I am here.

…phew. Glad I got all that right. So, what do you think?”

Rex wasn’t sure what to say or really even do. He wanted to ask who the poem was about but was also afraid of the answer. He wanted to hug Ahsoka again and somehow go back in time so that he could follow her. He wanted to promise her everything under the stars, that he would make sure she never felt like that again, that she never had to heal because she would remain whole from then on. Instead, all Rex managed to get out was, “It’s amazing.”

“Really? It’s the first poem I’ve ever written.”

“In that case, even better.”

She snorted and playfully kicked him again. “Stop sucking up to your commander.”

“Yes sir,” he chuckled.

They both trailed off, just lounging there in comfortable silence. Rex still wanted to ask about the poem, and it almost seemed like Ahsoka wanted him too. Instead, he kept his mouth shut until a few minutes had passed and then asked, “Still awake?”

“Yep.”

“Want breakfast.”

“You cook?”

“Been trying. Working with actual fucking utensils and not just trying to heat up a packaged meal while freezing to death on some damn planet like Hoth are two very different things.”

Letting out a practical cackle, Ahsoka doubled over. “Good Force I remember that! Oh the food was so bad…”

“Want to see if I’ve gotten any better?”

“Hmm, I think my insides can handle it.”

“Glad to hear it,” Rex replied. He shoved her feet off and stood up. “And you can help. That way if it turns out awful you can’t fully blame me.”

She grinned. “Sounds good to me.”


	3. Shopping Trip

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this time I actually sat down and really planned this out and it will be 8 chapters, that's a definite. Thanks again for reviewing and reading and thanks for reading :)

As it turned out, breakfast did not end up poisoning either person and it actually wasn’t half bad. Rex and Ahsoka headed over to CT-K4F3 near Rex’s usual time. As Rex started to set up the place for the day, Ahsoka lent him a hand and by the time Echo and Fives got in, they were already done.

They talked a little more and Ahsoka mentioned her shopping trip with Rex, to which the other two complained that they should come too and so it got pushed to after the cafe closed. It would be late but seeing as probably all of the big businesses of Coruscant remained permanently open it didn’t matter.

During the day, Ahsoka mostly kept to herself as she researched different aspects of Coruscant, jobs, places to live, shop, eat, anything.

At the lunch hour, Echo took Ahsoka to a restaurant a few shops down. While gone, Fives asked, “So, what did you and the Commander get up to last night?”

“I have no idea what you’re implying.”

“Oh come on,” Fives said with a nudge of his elbow. “After that poem last night, it’s clear you mean way more to her than myself or anyone else could.”

“I highly doubt that,” sighed Rex, keeping a calm voice though he was honestly somewhat ruffled that Fives thought the poem had been about him too. “We just talked and slept. Had breakfast. Nothing else.”

“Well that’s disappointing,” Fives muttered.

Rex didn’t have time to come up with a retort as another surge of customers appeared and they had to deal with them.

However, most of the work day was pretty easy going and when he or one of the other clones talked to Ahsoka, it was their turn to tell her their side of things. She got to hear their own personal stories of the final months of the war and they also caught her up on the more personal details with Anakin and Obi-Wan and some of the other clones as well.

Finally, just past twenty-two hundred hours, they finally closed up shop and headed off to some of the clothing stores that were still open.

Without even meaning to, Rex just started sounding off a list of everything she would probably need and after the eighteenth item, Echo hit him over the head and said, “We’re going shopping for clothes. Not preparing for a mission.”

“Yeah Rex,” laughed Fives. “Let’s just wonder around and have some fun. No need to follow some strict path or something.”

Rex just grumbled and rolled his eyes but he couldn’t help the smile that appeared when Ahsoka leaned over and whispered, “Don’t worry. I found it endearing.”

Once in an actual store, Echo and Fives went nuts, grabbing anything and everything. However, Rex couldn’t help how he thought. If he saw something that looked useful or practical, he grabbed it. Then immediately afterwards either Fives or Echo would snatch it and shove it back on the rack as they reprimanded him for having zero taste in anything.

“You know colors do exist, right?” snorted Echo.

“Color does not trump practicality,” muttered Rex.

“She’s not going into battle with this,” Fives retorted. “Are you Ahsoka?”

“Well I doubt it would pass uniform standards,” she laughed.

“See?” Fives said. “Lighten up Rex. It’s called fashion.” He grabbed something else and held it up to Ahsoka’s form. “How about this?”

Ahsoka played with the flashy top. “Where on Coruscant would I wear this?” she laughed.

“Maybe a nice outing,” suggested Fives.

“A very nice outing with a close friend,” Echo replied.

Rex was rather happy he was standing behind Ahsoka because a) she couldn’t see his rather red face b)he could easily make threatening looks at Fives and Echo, and c) he had something stopping him from strangling the two.

“I’m glad to see you both have kept your humor intact,” Ahsoka replied with a grin as she put the top back. “But I think I have plenty to try on so far. I will see you boys in a few minutes.”

As she walked into the dressing rooms, Rex rounded on Echo and Fives with a glare.

“What do you guys think you’re playing at?”

“We were just making suggestions,” Fives said with a shrug.

“No, you’re implying things and I don’t much appreciate it,” growled Rex.

Echo looked over. “Are we implying things?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t think so.”

“Gosh Rex, we’re sorry if we’ve upset you in any way.”

“Yeah it certainly—”

“Oh just shut your trap,” Rex groaned as he covered his face. He walked off, leaving Fives and Echo and their grinning faces alone as he tried to get the words they had said out of his head.

They were just being annoying and making up things to rile him up, nothing more. He wished they had never found out about the stupid trip. At least if it was just him and Ahsoka, then he’d be enjoying himself.

Aimlessly walking around, Rex found himself walking through an aisle of jewelry. He was ready to keep moving when one piece caught his eye. His fingers glided over it, feeling the clean curves and smooth edges. He almost picked up to examine it when a teasing voice said, “Thinking of getting that for yourself?”

Rex jumped and saw Ahsoka standing next to him. She was wearing a new outfit consisting of mostly things that Rex had picked out.

“What-no I just…I don’t know. It made me think of you,” he admitted.

Ahsoka picked it up. Unlike the metal piece that she wore made out of seven triangles, this was one smooth band that looked to be made at of some kind of wood, a mix of red and tan and white. She looked it over and then quickly used it to replace the one she was wearing. “What do you think?”

“I like it.”

She smiled. “Well you can go fight Echo and Fives now because you do have taste. I think I just might get this,” Ahsoka said as she took it off and replaced it with the metal one. She then twirled for him, arms extended. “What do you think?”

“You didn’t have to get what I suggested,” Rex replied though he was smiling all the same.

“Hey, practical is good too. Besides, grey suits me, don’t you think.”

“Yeah, brings out your eyes,” Rex said before he could stop himself.

However, before he could try and fix that statement, Ahsoka said, “Then I’m definitely getting it.”

“Well I’m glad to hear it but you didn’t have to run over here to show me it.”

“I wanted to,” she replied and then grabbed his hand. “Come on. I want your opinion on the other things too. And if Fives and Echo decide to keep annoying you, we can both fight them off together.”

“Naw. We shouldn’t do that. Wouldn’t be a fare fight,” grinned Rex.

Ahsoka laughed at that and they walked back to the dressing rooms. Ahsoka slipped away to go change into something else as Rex dealt with Fives and Echo. Then for the next fifteen minutes, Ahsoka ran in and out, seeing what the Clones thought of what she had.

Eventually, she told them there was just one last outfit to go and Ahsoka went back in. When she came out, Rex couldn’t help but stare. He couldn’t remember Ahsoka or either Echo or Fives taking it off the racks and giving it to Ahsoka because he sure as hell would have.

The outfit consisted of a knee length skirt, a top that covered one shoulder and showed her midsection, and two blue sleeves that went from her wrist to her bicep. The fabric was flowing and blue, marked with lighter and darker blue geometric shapes. Golden pieces hung from around her hips and one of her shoulders.

“It’s way to flashy, isn’t it Rex,” she joked, looking down at herself with a cheeky grin.

Rex really wished she hadn’t called him out in particular. He wasn’t quite what the proper response was and then suddenly he heard Fives and Echo laughing and Ahsoka’s small grin turned into a full blow smile.

“What?”

Echo laughed even louder as Fives shook his head. “Oh Force, he didn’t even realize he said. Ha!”

“Said what?” sighed Rex.

Ashoka tapped him on his chest. “You said I was gorgeous.”

“Wait-I did?”

She smirked. “You absolutely did.”

“Well I mean-uh you um-you look-it’s very flattering and I guess I just—”

“Thank you very much,” she interrupted. “I’m happy you like it. You know? I think I may get it after all. I’ll be right back guys.”

As she left, Rex glared at the other two. “Don’t even say a word.”

They simply grinned and kept their mouths shut in response. Rather quickly, Ahsoka had come back out with her pile of things.

“Well, I think that’s good for one day,” she grinned. “Anything you guys need to get?”

Echo shook his head. “Naw, we both just came out to join you. If we’re done shopping, we probably need to head home.”

“I’m glad you came,” grinned Ahsoka. “Thank you for your help.”

“No problem,” said Fives. “We’ll see you both tomorrow.”

They hugged and the two clones left. With them gone, Ahsoka made some last minute grabs for toiletries and then they checked out. Rex grabbed half of the bags and then it was time to make their way back to his apartment.

On the way back, Ahsoka said, “So…you think I’m gorgeous huh?”

“Did I really say that?” groaned Rex as he covered his face.

“You most certainly did. Wish you could take it back?”

“What?! No that’s-it was a bit embarrassing. That’s all.”

“Well, either way it was a lovely compliment,” she replied. “No idea where the hell I’d wear that but if you think I look good in it, then I’m glad I bought it.”

Not knowing how to reply to what she was implying, he focused on her actual words and simply said, “Well, you actually could wear it to Obi-Wan’s wedding.”

Her eyes lit up. “You mentioned that didn’t you? Oh that would be a perfect idea!”

“Yeah, and I also mentioned that if Obi-Wan brings it up we gotta act surprised.”

“Right,” she laughed. “Do you have anything to wear to the wedding?”

“I have no idea what one wears to a wedding.”

“Then next time we go shopping, I’ll find something for you,” she replied.

“There’s going to be a next time?”

“Yep, and I’ll make sure it’s just us two as well.”

Rex grinned. “I like the sound of that.”

They finally made it back to his apartment at that point. Rex guided Ahsoka into his bedroom. It was plain and simple and the bed was like it always was. The only really personal thing was a holodisplay at the bedside. It was a recording of the 501st, all flickering and blue and 3D. Anakin, Ahsoka, and himself stood at the front with the other clones behind them.

With the way that Ahsoka’s gaze lingered on it, he added, “I can get you a copy if you like.” She nodded and Rex made a mental note to do that later. However, for the moment he turned to his closet and said, “Since we don’t know for sure when you’ll be leaving, you can put your things in here. There’s plenty of room.”

“Thanks,” said Ahsoka as she began hanging up the items. Rex helped and once done, Ahsoka asked, “Mind if I use your refresher?”

“Not at all. It’s nearly one in the morning but I can cook dinner if you like. We did skip it after all.”

“Just don’t try to poison me,” she laughed.

Grinning, Rex first changed into his sleeping sweats and tank before he went to the small kitchen and scrounged up a simple enough meal. By the time he was done, Ahsoka was finished as well and walked out in shorts and a tank. Water still dripping from her lekku, she walked over and leaned against the counter.

“Smells good,” she said. She grabbed a plate and sat at the counter. Rex joined her, sitting by her side.

As Ahsoka took a few bites, she mumbled, “So, I’m guessing even you have an off day. When is it?”

“Two days from now we’re closed. Why?”

“Then you can properly show me the sights of Coruscant without having to worry about shoving all the work on to Fives and Echo.”

“As fun as that sounds, I’m probably not that good of a guide.”

“Hey, not about the destination. It’s about the journey, right?”

He chuckled. “I suppose so. And I don’t have anything better to do that day.”

“Nothing else?”

“Well, if I try hard enough, I’m sure there’s something I could be doing on my off day but I would much rather prefer spending it with you.”

“I’m glad to hear it. So would I,” she replied. Ahsoka then grinned as she leaned over and said, “Why do you look so shocked when I say something like that? I should be shocked that you’re putting up with me like this.”

“Seriously? If I had a choice between having you stay here or anything else in the world, I’d rather have you here.”

“Now you’re just being kind.”

Rex shook his head. “Pick something, anything, and I’ll tell you that I’d gladly throw it out the window to spend a day with you.”

“All the money in the world.”

“Could care less.”

“A beautiful person to spend the night with,” Ahsoka said with a quirky smile.

“Already got that.

“What about the chance to never have been in the war?”

“Still would choose you.”

“What about if you could make it so the war never happened?”

“Well,” said Rex, “this is going to sound incredibly selfish but then I never would have been born and I wouldn’t have been able to meet you so…I’d choose you.”

“Come on, tell me your greatest desire. What is it? Clearly you’d choose that over me.”

“The fact that I can just sit here and talk with you, that I know you’re alive, that you’re safe and breathing, is more than enough for me.”

Ahsoka smiled. “Hmm, if that’s really true, then stop looking so surprised when I basically say the same thing.”

“You just got your pardon. You have a whole Galaxy at your fingertips, able to go anywhere you wanted, and you’re sitting here with me.”

“Exactly,” replied Ahsoka. “If it helps to convince you, the poem that I recited at the café does have a name. It’s called ‘Rex’.”

“Now you’re messing with me.”

“Why? You said it yourself. I left and it was like you lost a limb. The same went for me. The hardest thing I’ve ever done was leaving without a word,” Ahsoka replied. “Honestly I…I mean I’m sure I’ll travel places. There are plenty of worlds I’d love to visit. But as long as you’re here, Coruscant is my home. I don’t ever want to leave you again.”

The first thought that popped into his mind at Ahsoka’s words he quickly squelched. Nevertheless, the second idea wasn’t so forward and instead, he let his hand slide over the countertop. He hesitated when Ahsoka’s hand was right there but she closed the gap. The right side of her hand pressed up against his thumb and he slowly flipped his hand over.

Ahsoka moved her hand on top of his and their fingers interlaced. Rex squeezed and Ahsoka mimicked him with a grip equally strong.

“I don’t ever want to leave you either,” Rex admitted softly.

They simply kept their hands connected like a line between two points. Sometimes one of them would squeeze the other’s hand or rub a thumb against the other’s skin. Other than that, they didn’t move like if they did, a spell would be broken.

Rex watched as Ahsoka swallowed. She momentarily looked away before meeting his eyes again. She asked, “Finding some place to stay…isn’t that important. Is it?”

“Well, finding the perfect place can take weeks…”

“Months…”

“Maybe years if you’re really unlucky,” Rex replied. “And you have to stay somewhere.”

“True. So I can…take my time looking for another place?”

“As much as you want.”

Ahsoka gave a slow nod. “That’s good to know.”

“I’d imagine it is.”

Her fingers twitched and started to unhook from Rex’s. He reacted in kind, slowly and reluctantly letting his hand move away from hers. Ahsoka went back to messing with her food. When she finally took a bite, she broke into a light laugh. “Damn, it’s cold.”

“Kind of late to being eating anyways,” Rex said with a slight smile. “We can eat it as leftovers later.”

“Yeah, let’s do that,” Ahsoka said, pushing her plate away.

Rex took it and as he packaged both and put them away, he found that his throat had gone very dry. Nervously, he licked his lips and got out, “You don’t um…have to sleep in here. If you don’t want to.”

“Well, I am used to sleeping with at least four other people near me at one time,” Ahsoka replied.

“Then sleep in my room. There’s plenty of floor space to go around.”

She laughed at that. “Perfect.”

Rex led the way back to his bedroom. He threw Ahsoka a pillow and she got it with ease. He offered her a blanket but shook her head and promptly lay down on the floor. Rex lay down as well, several inches away from her. Ahsoka didn’t seem to need a moment to think about their situation, or she wasn’t allowing herself to. Instead of putting the pillow under her head, she hugged it close to her chest and as her eyes closed, she easily drifted into sleep.

Lying on his back with his head turned towards her, Rex moved one of his hands nearly close enough to touch one of hers but stopped himself before he made contact. He receded it, turned his head towards the ceiling, and fell asleep.


	4. A Day of Note

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thank you as always and just as a quick note, the Clones and how they age will be answered in this chapter. Enjoy :)

Putting a label to exactly what was happening was nearly impossible for Rex. Neither had either out right said everything they had meant yet they had both known what the other was implying. At least he thought so. It was confusing and made him question every move he was making. He thought of that, laying on the floor as he tried to figure out exactly what was happening.

Finally, he turned his head to look at Ahsoka only to find her smiling at him.

“How long have you been staring at me?”

“Hmm…a while now.”

“Didn’t feel like saying anything?” he asked.

She chuckled. “You looked deep in thought. Happy Ætatis Day,” Ahsoka said.

Rex blinked.

“What? Did you actually forget? Every clone knows when his Ætatis Day is.”

“With everything that’s happened in the past two days, can you really blame me?” asked Rex with a tired laugh.

Ætatis Day…he couldn’t believe it had actually slipped his mind, and this close too. Ætatis Day, or roughly and crudely translated to Normal Aging Day, was when a clone’s cells stopped their accelerated growth and they aged at the normal rate of most humans. Ætatis Day was on the thirteen and a half, or twenty-fifth depending on how you looked at it, birthday of a clone. The whole reason for it was so that clones could be shipped off to the battlefield quicker than any drafted trooper but would be able to take full advantage of their prime years of life (the Kaminoians had actually tried to slow the aging process to below normal during the prime years to extend their usefulness even longer but they hadn’t had any luck).

Ætatis Day had never really been a day of celebration. Why celebrate when you were going to die in battle anyways? But now, Rex realized what it meant from this point onwards. He’d get to live a relatively long and normal life.

“Hello? Still in their Rex?”

“Hush,” he replied as he batted away Ahsoka’s hand. “I was just thinking.”

“Well, don’t hurt yourself. And I hope it was about how we’re going to celebrate this special day. Should I get a cake with thirteen and a half or twenty-five on it?”

“Neither,” sighed Rex with a roll of his eyes as he sat up and stretched. “Not any reason to celebrate.”

“Well I have something to celebrate and I sure as hell am going to do that. I don’t have to worry about you getting to far ahead of me,” she said with a grin.

Rex snorted and stood up. As he walked to his closet to grab something to wear for the day, he noted how it wasn’t awkward this morning despite the hand holding and carefully chosen words and offer to sleep next to each other. Yet it was also obvious Ahsoka wasn’t exactly dying to talk about what happened either. He wasn’t sure if it was because she wanted to avoid such subjects or if she honestly felt that there was no reason they needed to go over it.

But Rex needed to know. He needed to know if she had felt as at peace as he had with her there, if sitting at the counter and holding hands was like holding the other piece of himself. Or had she thought it a mistake? Probably nothing that severe as she had readily agreed to sleeping by him in his bedroom yet he still couldn’t tell for sure.

Rex grabbed what he needed faster than Ahsoka and went to change in the bathroom before eventually heading to the kitchen. It was close enough to when he needed to leave so he just heated the leftovers of both plates and quickly ate as Ahsoka came out. He noted that she was wearing the new ornamental headpiece that he had picked out the night before.

She grabbed the other plate and as she shoveled food into her mouth, she asked, “Anything planned for the day besides working?”

Rex shook his head. “No but tomorrow we do close early. Before you showed up, I was thinking of going to one of Qui-Gon’s and Cody’s self-defense classes. Don’t know if that—”

“That would be awesome!” she immediately cried. “Could we participate?!”

He laughed, “Qui-Gon said I could so I don’t see why you couldn’t either.”

“Or yes! I’ve always wanted to spar Jinn ever since we kind of almost killed each other.”

“Wait what—”

“It wasn’t that big of a deal,” Ahsoka said with a wave of her hand.

“Big-what the hell happened?!”

“It was nothing—”

“No, we are not leaving this apartment until you explain to me what happened! Why the hell did Qui-Gon try to kill you? And why did you leave it out when you told Fives, Echo, and I everything that happened?”

“Because it really was just a misunderstanding,” sighed Ahsoka.

“Yeah, that apparently almost ended in death!”

She rolled her eyes but relaxed against the counter anyways. “Well neither of us died so it’s okay, isn’t it? And what happened was really rather simple. He thought I was an actual traitor to the Republic, didn’t know about Palpatine and all that stuff yet, and I thought he did know everything and was a spy for Palpatine. Technically not wrong on either accounts but neither of us simply knew the entire story. I had to keep the Rebels and their secrets safe so we fought. Thankfully, Qui-Gon Jinn is more or a diplomat than a warrior when it comes to solving disagreements so we eventually called a truce and actually talked.”

“But not before one of you nearly died.”

“So I _almost_ cut off his arm and he _almost_ got one of my legs. No big deal.”

Rex let out a groan. “I do not like imagining that.”

She just laughed. “Well, just be happy we did come to an agreement. And anyways, I would love to go to that self-defense class. That sounds like loads of fun!”

“Just don’t try to kill anyone, huh?”

Ahsoka grinned. “I’ll try not to.”

“That’s promising,” sighed Rex. He glanced at the nearest clock and added, “I need to head off to work now. You can come with but you can stay here too. Or wonder around Coruscant. Just whatever you want really.”

“I’ll wait to see the sights until your off day,” Ahsoka replied. “Besides, I really like being at CT-K4F3. It has a nice atmosphere.”

“Is that what you call it,” Rex muttered with a role of his eyes. “Well, either way, we’d better get going. Oh! And I should probably tell you the code to the apartment so you can come and go as you please.”

Rex silently begged Ahsoka to note the implication, to say something because for the moment he sure as hell couldn’t bring himself to do it. Instead, Ahsoka simply said, “That would be great, thanks,” and they continued on as if nothing had changed.

And perhaps nothing really had changed and Rex was the one making a big deal out of everything. He just didn’t know and it was putting his head in a spin. However, he sucked it up anyways and got her the code before they left for CT-K4F3. Upon arrival, they were met with cheers from both Fives and Echo.

“Happy Ætatis Day!”

Rex rolled his eyes. “Am I seriously the only one who forgot?”

“How could you forget your own Ætatis Day?” asked Echo.

“Blame this Togruta for showing up unexpectedly,” Rex said with a jerk towards Ahsoka. “And don’t you two even think about trying to do something.”

“Why not?” whined Fives. “Ætatis Day should be a happy thing now. We practically have full lives ahead of us! What’s not to celebrate?”

“I’ve just got other things on my mind,” sighed Rex.

Echo shook his head. “Other things on your mind…well it doesn’t matter anyways cause we already baked the cake.”

“Is it poisoned?”

“Of course,” Fives grinned.

Rex just shook his head and went about making sure the coffee shop was ready for the day. Ahsoka jumped onboard with Fives and Echo and happily planned what they could do that night. Rex ignored them for the most part and soon they had to stop their talk of celebrating and whatnot as the first customers of the day came in.

As the Clones worked, Ahsoka mostly continued to do research on Coruscant and the opportunities she had. The rest of the day would have continued like that except for the fact that Padmé showed up again. So soon and in such a short amount of time was surprising but certainly not unwelcomed. For a moment, Rex was surprised that Padmé didn’t seem shocked at Ahsoka’s appearance but then remembered that Padmé had been one of the ones to pardon her.

“Ahsoka, it’s so good to see you,” Padmé said as she walked over to Ahsoka’s table and took her into her arms. “I had hoped to see you again soon.”

“I’m staying with Rex right now so hopefully meeting will be easier from now on.”

“You are? How wonderful,” Padmé replied. “Have you met with anyone else?”

She shook her head. “No, but Rex and I are supposed to go to one of Qui-Gon’s and Cody’s defense classes. Who knows, maybe I’ll meet Obi-Wan there too.”

Padmé bit her bottom lip. “I doubt that.”

Ahsoka let a small frown form and she glanced over to Rex who was clearing a table nearby. “Does Obi-Wan not go to those things.”

“He usually avoids all things fighting at this point,” Rex spoke up. “And I should’ve mentioned this earlier but it’s best if you don’t mention anything involving the war and he probably wouldn’t like you mentioning Qui-Gon and his undercover mission. Or the fact that you nearly killed each other.”

“Okay, last part I get, but why the other ones?” asked Ahsoka.

“Imagine if you had a friend, a mentor, a lover,” Padmé said, “and he was murdered in front of you, died in your arms because you weren’t able to do anything, mourned him for ten years without ever truly coming to terms with it, always believing it was your fault, only to have him come back suddenly and to learn that all of the deception was caused by a man that had orchestrated the very war that you had been forced to fight. Would you enjoy bringing up memories of the war?”

Ahsoka winced. “No, I suppose not.”

Padmé gave a sad smile. “If I seemed harsh, I did not mean to. Talk of the war is simply not a good idea when around Obi-Wan, at least not when everything that has been revealed is still new and fresh in everyone’s minds.”

Ahsoka nodded. “Yeah, I can understand that. Thank for telling me. I probably would have made an ass of myself.”

“Obi-Wan would have forgiven you either way,” Rex replied. “But moving from him, why are you here Padmé? Two days in one week? That is unusual.”

“Well, admittedly, I was hoping that I’d find Ahsoka here,” Padmé replied. “I hope that you’ll be staying on Coruscant for a while because Anakin will be arriving back in three days time.”

Ahsoka’s eyes lit up. “Really! I’ve been dying to see him and tell him everything. And of course yell at him for not postponing your wedding so I could be his best man,” she said with a well-meaning laugh.

“Yes,” said Rex with a roll of his eyes. “How dare he have Obi-Wan be his best man, the scoundrel.”

Giving Rex a good natured hit, she replied, “You’re exactly right.”

Padmé smiled at the exchange and said, “Well, I’m sure the moment you two meet again, he’ll give you a thousand and one apologies for it. If you’d like, I can have you come over to our place when he’s supposed to be back on planet.”

“Sounds like a great idea.”

“I’m glad to hear it. But since I’m here now and I do finally have a moment of peace, how would you like to accompany me to my office,” Padmé answered. “I do have business that I must attend to but I’d love to continue our discussion Ahsoka.”

“That would be wonderful. I’ll be back before you close up Rex,” she said. “I’ll catch you later.”

“See you later Ahsoka,” Rex said with a half smile.

He watched her go and then almost immediately Fives and Echo fell on him like vultures.

“Alright, what happened?” asked Fives.

“You’ve been incredibly weird all morning,” Echo said, “What’s up?”

Rex bit back a groan. Of course they had both noticed. “Nothing for you to bother yourselves about.”

“Our brother is troubled, of course that’s something to concern ourselves with,” Fives said. “And see? We’re not even going to tease you. Just tell us what’s up.”

“Not tease me? Somehow I doubt that.”

Echo shook his head. “Seriously, we just want to help. If you don’t tell us, then we’ll just have to ask Ahsoka what’s up.”

“She wouldn’t know,” Rex said with a quick shake of his head. He walked off, hoping that the arrival of a new customer would stop anymore talk. However, after the person was taken care of, the other two immediately started talking to him again.

“Why wouldn’t Ahsoka know?” asked Echo. “You are like two halves made whole or something.”

Rex cocked his head at that. “Now you’re just being silly.”

“Naw, don’t you remember how you were right after she went AWOL? I’m pretty sure that if you hadn’t had a squadron to take care of, you might have just stopped,” Fives said.

“What-I don’t even understand what that means. I was fine.”

“Were not,” Echo said. “You were seriously torn up about her leaving and clearly, seeing as Ahsoka doesn’t know something is bothering you right now, that must mean it’s about Ahsoka. So, what happened?”

“Guys, as much as I love being hounded by you, I am begging you to just lay off for now. At least give me some time to sit on this.”

Fives let out a disgruntled sigh but nodded. “Fine. But if something doesn’t change in the next few days, we’re talking to Ahsoka, got it?”

“Got it. Don’t need to tell me again,” muttered Rex.

The rest of the day Rex mostly spent in the back. He didn’t feel like interacting with people for the moment and really just needed time to himself. Working over finances was a mind numbing enough task that he could practically run on autopilot as his mind wondered elsewhere.

The big thing was that now that Ahsoka was here, he didn’t want her to leave. He didn’t want her to find another place to live or job that would lead to them hardly, or never, seeing each other. He wanted to wake up and see her smile like he’d been able to see this morning. They had both confessed how important each other was yet Echo had been more correct. Losing Ahsoka hadn’t been like losing a limb. A limb you could get on without. Having her go AWOL and just disappear was like his lungs disappearing or his heart being ripped out or his brain being torn apart.

Ahsoka…he…cared for her a great deal, always had. But now that she was here, the galaxy was at peace, and they would likely live their expected lifetimes, Rex was scared to death about what could happen.

So, with that in mind, he decided to stay back there and wallow in his feelings until it was closing time. He had come out once since going into the back and when coming out, he expected to find Ahsoka back and the other two setting everything up for the night.

Instead he found actual decorations put up and a cake along with Fives, Echo, and Ahsoka grinning like maniacs.

“You just had to do it, didn’t you,” sighed Rex.

“Yep,” Ahsoka grinned. “Even if you think this is pointless, I don’t. This day marks the point where we’ll be able to spend the rest of our lives together. What’s not to love?”

Rex’s heart fluttered but he managed to keep his face fairly neutral. “Well if you put it like that…”

“Come on Rex. Crack a smile,” Fives said.

He rolled his eyes. “You’re all dorks, you know that?”

“Professional dorks. Now let’s eat!”

Despite initially not wanting any of this, Rex couldn’t help but enjoy himself (except for maybe the part where Echo shoved cake in his face but he easily got the man back). Either way, Rex was able to ignore his thoughts and actually just enjoy himself. After it was all done with, Fives and Echo promised to clean everything up and sent Rex and Ahsoka on their way.

They walked back to the apartment, laughing and joking about the celebration. Ahsoka told him about her time with Padmé and they both also planned out the next day. When they got back, they decided to go to sleep and finally get a full nights rest. Ahsoka followed Rex into his room right off the bat.

Upon his confused glance, she said, “You don’t mind if I sleep in here again, do you?”

“No of course not.”

“Good,” grinned Ahsoka. “Oh, and I have a question.”

“Yeah?”

“Can I just stay here?”

“Um…I thought we kind of assumed that yesterday.”

“Short of, yeah, but I just wanted to straight up ask. I don’t want to go find some place and live on my own and I don’t want to live with some strange roommate or something,” she replied. “I mean…I don’t know if you like living alone and you’d rather—”

“No! I mean…well I don’t…I would prefer to not live alone,” he replied. “And if I mean…you can live here. I don’t mind. There isn’t a second bedroom or bathroom but—”

“Like I’d care about close quarters,” laughed Ahsoka. “I would love to live here. Like, actually live here.”

Well, at least that was one thing they had directly stated. Maybe there was hope for the rest.


	5. A Fight to Remember

The next day, they went to the café like it was the most normal thing in the world, like they had done it for ages. There were still things that needed to be addressed, things that Ahsoka wasn’t bringing up and which Rex wasn’t going to bring up, yet at least today he felt a bit easier in his skin and not so awkward.

He contacted Qui-Gon through his communicator and just double checked on everything before giving Ahsoka the thumbs up. After the coffee shop closed for the day, they headed to one of the later classes. There were two left for Qui-Gon and Cody and both Rex and Ashoka arrived in the middle of the first one which was geared more towards teens.

They wanted and commented from the sidelines, waiting until the class was finished. After a few words, the kids bowed to both Cody and Qui-Gon before excitedly parting. As they left the floor, Qui-Gon and Cody met with Ahsoka and Rex.

Right away, Qui-Gon and Ahsoka enveloped each other in their arms, squeezing tight before pulling back with a fond smile. Cody raised an eyebrow at that. “You two know each other?”

“During the war, yes,” Qui-Gon replied. “My undercover mission gave me the chance to intercept with Ahsoka several times during the last years of the war.”

Cody shook his head. “Small galaxy, huh? It’s good to see you Ahsoka.” Cody went to clasp her forearm but she bypassed that for a full on hug too that slightly caught Cody by surprise. Nevertheless, he relaxed into it and shook his head. “I can’t believe you’re here again.”

“In a way, neither can I,” Ahsoka said as she pulled back. “I can’t believe you guys own a studio and everything. This so cool.”

“Well, you both are more than welcomed to join the next class but we have about fifteen minutes before then. Would you care to spar with me?” asked Qui-Gon.

“I’m surprised you’re not afraid I’ll kick your ass.”

Qui-Gon let out a slight snort. “I believe it was I that had the upper hand last time.”

“It would appear we’re remembering it differently,” said Ahsoka. “I suppose we must do a rematch to see who was right.”

“I suppose me must,” Qui-Gon smiled.

As they walked to the main area of the floor, Cody walked over to stand next to Rex. They clasped forearms for a moment as way of greeting. “How are you brother?” asked Rex.

“It’s been pretty busy but it’s been good,” Cody replied. “Qui-Gon and I are trying to come up with a ranking system for the students. Should help some see how much they’ve progressed and could help us with separating classes more appropriately than just by age. And I’ve been…well there’s a big thing that I’ve got to plan so—”

“I know,” Rex said with a slight laugh.

Cody let out a groan. “Blast it all. Did Qui-Gon tell you?”

“Deductive reasoning.”

“Whatever, you better stay surprised when Obi-Wan tells you. And don’t you dare tell Anakin! Obi-Wan will be able to see through his bullshit façade right away if he knows.”

“He does have a terrible poker face,” Rex replied. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”

Cody gave him one last pointed look before asking, “So how are things with CT-K4F3? Echo and Fives doing well?”

“Oh, just annoying me daily so nothing unusual there.”

“Your Ætatis Day was yesterday right? Let me guess, they threw a party and made a big deal out of it, right?”

“Basically,” said Rex with a roll of his eyes. “What about Waxer and Boil? I know you keep in touch with them a lot. How are they?”

“Those blasted…they adopted a child.”

“What! Can clones even do that?”

“Apparently! Remember Numa, that Twi’lek orphan that they found on Ryloth?”

“Yeah, they couldn’t stop talking about her for the longest time!” Rex exclaimed.

“Well, now you’re going to get to hear even more stories because they adopted her,” said Cody with a shake of his head.

Rex couldn’t help but laugh. “Something tells me you’ve been tortured already by those two.”

Cody nodded. “I don’t know what they’re thinking. I mean, raising a child! We’re clones. What could we possibly know about raising children?”

“Maybe it’s a natural instinct that they developed and we didn’t,” chuckled Rex. “Either way, there are probably a million and one resources that they have at their fingertips. You needn’t worry about them.”

“I’m not worried. I’m annoyed.”

“I know my own face Cody. You may be saying annoyed but you really just care about them a great deal.”

Cody let out a grumble. He was about to retort when a large thud sounded from the main mat, accompanied by hysterical giggling. Neither had really been watching the fight, the flurry of limps just barely registering as they talked. However, now they focused on the scene in front of them. Ahsoka had somehow pinned the man that was a good nine inches taller under her grasp. She had a good enough grip that it would have caused some trouble if Qui-Gon had tried to get up yet both had gone mostly slack as they continued to laugh, loud and clear.

“Everything alright…?” asked Cody with a raised eyebrow, clearly not understanding what had occurred.

Rex didn’t blame him. He didn’t get it either. He watched as Ahsoka rolled off Qui-Gon, letting her back hit the mat as well as she scrunched up her nose and closed her eyes and tried to keep her laughter in. Qui-Gon was covering his face with his hands, his shoulders shaking as laughter came from him as well.

“Oh dear Force, I think they’ve both lost it,” Cody said.

Qui-Gon shook his head in response, finally showing his face again which had a wide grin set upon it. “I can assure you, we are both perfectly fine.”

“Uh huh,” Rex said with a snort. “Let me guess, this is all some reference to something that happened during the war, right?”

“You could say that,” giggled Ahsoka. “It was just a misunderstanding with some locals that didn’t exactly turn out well for either of us.”

“I hope it didn’t end in near death as well,” Rex replied.

Qui-Gon chuckled and finally pushed himself up. “No, it didn’t go that far. It just ended in a great deal of embarrassment for all involved.”

“What happened?” asked Cody.”

Both Qui-Gon and Ahsoka blushed. Ahsoka said, “Well…this was after our first meeting and very real attempt to kill each other. We still weren’t fully trustworthy of each other though and he needed to know information about the Rebels that I wouldn’t provide so…you know…naturally a fight occurred. At one point I tripped and Qui-Gon took advantage of the—”

“I believe it was my skills that beat you.”

“Dream on. It was bad footing,” replied Ahsoka with crossed arms. “Anyways, Qui-Gon did… _eventually_ get the upper hand and had me pinned down-most of this was happening in a wonderful market square-and well, for the inhabitants fighting doesn’t exactly mean fighting but…well…”

Rex’s face went red at the implication.

Ahsoka laughed. “That’s exactly what we looked like! Except you were about five times redder Qui-Gon.”

“I curse my pale complexion,” he replied with a smirk. “Thank you for a wonderful rematch. We’ll have to do it again to break the tie.”

“Excuse you but this puts me up ahead,” Ahsoka said with a grin.

“Hmm, I’m not so sure. Remember Yavin II?”

As the two went back and forth, Rex wondered exactly how much the they had run into each other. However, before he could ask anything else, Cody said, “Alright you two. Wrap it up. Students are going to start coming in soon.”

“You are right Cody,” Qui-Gon said as he stood up. “So, will you two being joining us?”

“Definitely! Rex?”

“Sure, why not?”

Cody clapped him on the back and grinned. “Glad to hear it. Hey, obviously you don’t have to but near the end of class would you and Ahsoka mind giving them a proper demonstration of fighting?”

“What? You and Qui-Gon can’t do it?” chuckled Rex.

“Well sure, but nothing beats how perfectly you two can sync up.”

Ahsoka gave Rex a grin. “Afraid you can’t take me?”

“You wish.”

“It’s decided then,” she said. “We’ll do it Cody.”

“Excellent,” Qui-Gon replied. “I’ll motion for you two to come up to the front of the class when it’s about time.”

“Sounds good,” Rex said. Still, he couldn’t help but turn to Ahsoka and murmured, “You know, we haven’t properly worked together in some time. We may not be as ‘synced’ as we use to be.”

She snorted. “Yeah, I’m sure Anakin and I aren’t as perfectly matched as we use to be, but you and me? The moment we’re out there it will be like nothing’s changed.”

Her words left a warm feeling in Rex’s gut, hearing the faith that she had in him. He couldn’t say he believed in each other as much as she did but he was undoubtedly looking forward to the match.

At this point, students began to come in. Ahsoka and Rex stayed near the back, watching the class and the interactions curiously from their spot. Most just smiled and gave them polite looks though a few lingered on Rex, probably wondering why a clone was taking a self-defense class. Other than that, Rex and Ahsoka watched as Qui-Gon and Cody both started to guide the class in the direction they wished.

Even if they claimed to not be as synced as Ahsoka and Rex, they undeniably worked well together and could smoothly pass the class back and forth between the two. They were good teachers and it was nice seeing them work so well at something that didn’t involve war. Rex liked how they seemed to have introduced techniques learned in the army with other art forms and their own personal twist. It made even the simpler exercises enjoyable and interesting.

At the end of the class, just as he had promised, Qui-Gon motioned for Ahsoka and him to go up there. Qui-Gon gave a small speech to the class, introducing them both and saying what they were about to do. He told them what to look for in the fight, to actively watch it, not just passively.

Rex and Ahsoka were then given space and the chance to start. There was no limitations besides a time of two minutes. They could begin when they wanted to.

Smiling, Rex got into a relaxed stance, something that was loose enough so he could move in any way he wanted. Other than that, he waited for Ahsoka to take the first strike and she gladly did.

She struck forward with a kick to his head. Rex grabbed her leg and pulled her over his shoulder. Anyone else would have fallen flat on their face but Ahsoka twisted out of his grip and got a hold of his shoulders. Hitting the ground, she pulled him with her and then kicked him backwards.

Rex didn’t allow himself to stumble though and he found his footing right away. Turning back to her, Ahsoka had already jumped up from the mat. He went for a punch but then turned it to a grab as she tried to block it. As he pulled her in close, Ahsoka got her feet behind him and tripped him up. With him down, she went for a kick to the face but Rex caught her and unbalanced her, once again bringing to his level as well.

On and on they went, moving up and down, side to side, never fully able to make contact but coming so close every time. Rex felt like he could on forever but then he caught sight of the time and immediately relaxed. Noticing the change, Ahsoka did as well, signaling the end of the fight.

Applause erupted from the students and Rex and Ashoka gave a respectable bow in return. They returned to their spots as Qui-Gon and Cody took the last few minutes of class to discuss the fight and key turning points when one or the other took advantage. Rex listened to it but not much of the talk registered, his blood still pumping in his ears from the thrill of it all.

Afterwards, Ahsoka and Rex thanked both Cody and Qui-Gon and talked with them a bit more afterwards. It was only once they were by themselves and on their way home that they really started gushing to each other. Rex admitted that he didn’t think it would go that well and they talked about all the little moves they had made and complimented the other’s.

Some of the defenses and offenses reminded each other of little stories and moments where those same movements had been used. They talked all the way back to the apartment and once there, were more than just a little hungry. Still, they were also tired enough that they didn’t want to cook anything so Rex ordered take out and they camped out on the couch as they waited for it to arrive, still talking about their fight.

“We should do that again some time,” Ahsoka said. “Like, just sparring in general.”

“I would certainly enjoy it. I haven’t had a sparring partner in a while.”

“I think I know what I want to do. Maybe,” replied Ahsoka. “I mean, teaching others self-defense and whatnot would be so much fun. But maybe I wouldn’t want to do that…at least not full time. Urgh, what else—”

“Hey,” laughed Rex, “you don’t have to decide your entire life goals now. Think on it a little longer. And don’t forget, you can always change your mind too.”

“True,” Ahsoka said. Just then, a knock at the door came, signaling there food was there. Before Rex could get up, Ahsoka waved a hand at him. “I got it.”

Instead of actually getting up though, Ahsoka unlocked and opened the door from where she was and floated some credits to the guy while simultaneously plucking the food from his hands. “Thanks,” she said with a grin. “That’s the right amount, right?”

“Uh, yeah…you have a nice night,” the guy quickly said before turning and leaving and Ahsoka closed and locked the door behind him.

“Somehow, I don’t think that’s how the Force is supposed to be used,” Rex said with a pointed look though the grin on his face countermined it.

“Hey, if it works, it works. Here you go,” she smiled, passing over his food.

They ate and talked some more. Rex even turned on the holocaster at one point so they could see if there was anything interesting on but upon finding nothing, they just concentrated on each other. Once finished, they threw away everything and then got ready for bed.

Ahsoka changed in the bathroom this time and when she came back, she flopped down on the bed with a loud sigh. “You know, I think I may just be tired enough to sleep here. Can I?”

Rex snorted. “I don’t mind.”

“Care to join me?”

“I’ll keep with the floor for tonight.”

“Your loss,” she grinned. She stretched and yawned before saying, “So, tomorrow the café is closed and you’re free, right?”

Rex nodded.

“So, come up with a battle plan for what we’re doing tomorrow or are we just going to wing it?”

“Wing it; everything’s more fun that way.”

Ahsoka mulled this over in her head. “Hmm, the unexpected can definitely be more exhilarating. Sounds good. I eagerly await tomorrow.”

Rex snorted in return and had the lights dim themselves before situating himself on the floor. He could have easily fallen asleep then and there but held onto consciousness for a little longer.

He was fairly sure that in this moment, he had never been happier. Sparring with Ahsoka like that had been the most adrenaline fueled thing he’d done in a long time. They had fit together perfectly, able to anticipate each other’s movements like they hadn’t been apart for two years.

And tomorrow they would finally have the day just to themselves. Despite the fact that the opportunity was only just upon them, it felt like he’d been waiting for it since forever.

Laying there, Rex decided that there was a word for how he felt about Ahsoka. He suspected it was similar to how Anakin felt about Padmé or Obi-Wan felt about Qui-Gon, like that other person was there whole world. Ahsoka had always been Rex’s whole world yet he had never been able to express that, do anything about it, and the chance seemed to have been lost to time. Now Ahsoka was back.

The word that Rex was looking for was love. He wasn’t sure how that would affect their relationship or not. He knew there were different kinds of love even if clones, like Force-Wielders, had been forbidden to express such interests. But the love he had felt for Ahsoka, had always felt, was something greater than any real word that he could think up.

He felt safe having her there, felt whole and happy. Like during the war, anything could have come his way and with Ahsoka there, he had felt invincible. But what should he do with this information? Should he tell her and see how she reacted or just let it remain as assumptions?

The idea of saying it out loud was somewhat terrifying but Rex wanted those consonants and vowels to form on his lips, be expressed in his breath, even if it was only once. But what if it only ruined everything? That was the fear that kept him from going to the bed and telling Ahsoka then and there. Already things seemed perfect and if they changed, he didn’t want them to change for the worse.

With conflicting thoughts swirling through his head, Rex finally allowed sleep to take him.


	6. He Took to Long

Rex decided that he had to have been more exhausted than he thought because he didn’t wake up right away. Usually, any movement to himself or even really in the same room would have stirred him at least a little. Instead, he found that he was not in the same position as he had been when he’d fallen asleep. He usually kept both hands resting on his stomach but one arm had been moved and that hand rested on Ahsoka’s shoulder. She was pressed up against his side with one arm thrown over his stomach.

How in all the Galaxy had she succeeded in sneaking in like that? And why? And what should he do now that she was there? Rex didn’t have much time to deal with these questions though as Ahsoka stirred. She tightened her grip on him and curled in just a little more before opening up her eyes.

“Morning.”

“Uh…yeah…morning,” Rex got out. He hoped that Ahsoka would say something but instead she just relaxed again and closed her eyes. “So you…well uh…you’re here…”

“Well I do live here now.”

Rex wasn’t sure if he wanted to strangle himself or Ahsoka more. “Well yes but…um…why are you…”

“Here?”

“Yeah.”

She opened her eyes again and let a small smirk appear on her face. “Hmm, you weren’t doing much of anything. You were taking to long.”

“To long with…what?”

“Speaking your mind,” Ahsoka replied. She turned silent and Rex’s mind was to slow to come up with a response before she spoke again. “You haven’t moved yet.”

“Well…no…”

“Cause you’re comfortable?”

“Yes but—”

“Good,” Ahsoka said. “Cause I don’t plan on moving right away.”

“It’s our free day and you’re…fine with just laying around?”

“Well not all day. But I’ve never really had a chance to just be lazy,” she replied. “You don’t mind, do you?”

“No,” Rex admitted. “But this is very…close.”

“We have been in tighter situations.”

“Yeah but we’re not trapped in some remote hole in the ground or something.”

“That is true.”

When Ahsoka didn’t continue, Rex said slowly, “So…we uh…that is—”

“You know Rex, you’re a fantastic leader. It really is amazing that you can’t get your words out here,” Ahsoka said.

“You’re teasing me.”

“A little,” she admitted with a grin. “But don’t worry. I mostly find it endearing.”

“You don’t even know what I can’t find my words for.”

“I have a feeling.”

“A Force feeling?”

“You could say that. And you know those are never wrong.”

“I think rarely wrong would be more accurate.”

“True,” she said with a half smile. “But I’m pretty sure that I’m right this time.”

“And if you’re wrong?”

She shrugged. “Then I’m wrong.”

“My answer could change things.”

“I highly doubt that,” Ahsoka replied. “Just say it. You’ll probably feel better once you do it.”

“You’re probably right.”

“Of course I am.”

Rex let a small smile finally form on his face. That didn’t make saying the words any easier though. “Well, it’s just that…”

She looked at him expectantly.

“You’re my world Ahsoka and those two years you were gone were hell.”

“I am sorry for that.”

“No…don’t apologize. At the time it was necessary,” sighed Rex. “And hey, it worked out in the end.”

“Yeah, who knew we could be so lucky,” chuckled Ahsoka. “So what you’re saying is…”

“That I want you to stay. And I know I can’t make you do anything, you’re Ahsoka fucking Tano after all, but I don’t ever want to leave your side again and if I could freeze time it would be in a moment with you and I want to wake up every day with you and I just want—”

Ahsoka shut him up with a kiss, one hand keeping Rex’s face in place. It was a simple enough gesture that locked them in place for only a few seconds before she finally pulled away. She smiled and said, “I love you too Rex.”

“Oh-I mean-well-love you too, sir-Ahsoka!”

She laughed again and kissed once more. “You light up when you get flustered.”

“I’m sure I do,” Rex groaned slightly. “So how…exactly when did—”

“I’ve just kind of assumed,” said Ahsoka. “And to be perfectly honest I was kind of hoping that this would be closer to the reunion we got. Though getting pulled across a counter and hugged to death was defiantly equally great.”

Rex snorted at that and shook his head. “I wish you had done it sooner. But…where do we go from here? I mean does this—”

“Stop over analyzing it,” Ahsoka interrupted. “This isn’t some battle we have to plan for. Just wing it.”

“Wing it…got it,” Rex said with a small nod.

Ahsoka nodded and then quickly sat up. She pulled Rex up too. “So, know any good places to eat breakfast at?”

Rex blinked, a bit surprised that now Ahsoka was utterly ready to get the day started but he wasn’t completely against it either. “I don’t really eat out.”

“Then it can be like our own adventure,” she replied with a grin. “We’ll find some place to have breakfast and then start going around the city.”

“Ok…yeah that sounds like a good idea,” Rex said as he eased some.

He went to get dressed and somehow Ahsoka seemed to go twice as fast as she already had a list ready for them to go through (or maybe she had just planned for this all along the day before). They ended up picking somewhere near enough so that they could walk to it and the moment that they were outside the apartment building, Ahsoka grabbed his hand.

She kept a tight grip that said ‘don’t you dare try and pull away’ which Rex willingly complied to. After a few moments, her grip eased some, allowing their hands to rest easily between them. They had talked a little but a good portion of their walk was Ahsoka looking around and simply taking in new parts of the city planet.

Nevertheless, at one point Ahsoka did lean over and whispered in a sing-song voice, “You’re over analyzing it again.”

Rex let out a long shy. “I’m trying not to.”

“I know,” she replied easily. She squeezed his hand as she added, “And I don’t blame you. Just try to focus on the moment. Think you can do that?”

“I’ll try,” he chuckled.

At first, simply trying didn’t exactly go smoothly. Instead of over thinking everything, Rex started to over think not over thinking it which just confused him more. However, he finally got to the point of metaphorically taking everything in his mind and dumping it out a window. Instead, if Ahsoka said a comment, he focused on that and replied in turn. He laughed and joked and made his own sarcastic remarks on different things and slowly it became easier to simply slip into it.

On the third time that she grabbed his hand, the contact didn’t even fully register and Rex just went with it.

They walked around the city that day, taking taxis and trains when needed, and explored Coruscant as much as one could in a single standard day. They went to other shops that sold all varieties of wares and objects from across the Galaxy. Ahsoka looked up different places to work and even managed to get applications to some. They went to the high end areas and the business areas, the dark alleys with stores with no names and likely illegal dealings, they went everywhere and yet only really scratched the surface for what Coruscant had to offer.

At one point during their travels, Ahsoka mentioned, “Hey, that school Obi-Wan teaches at is near here right?”

“Yeah, he…just had a class.”

“If we hurry, maybe we can catch him!” Ahsoka cried happily. “Come on!”

Grabbing Rex’s hand again, they ran from the shuttle stop and back into the walkways of Coruscant. For the most part, Ahsoka took the lead though there were a few turns where Rex had to drag her back and point her in the right direction again. Nevertheless, she seemed to somehow zero in on Obi-Wan (was probably a Force thing) because when they went past the school Ahsoka didn’t stop.

Despite Rex’s protests, Ahsoka continued down the street. She took one turn, then another, and just as they rounded the corner she let go so that way she could tackle the unsuspecting man.

“Obi-Wan!”

Rex couldn’t help but snort as Obi-Wan collapsed under the surprise weight. He had managed to turn around at least so he fell on his butt with Ahsoka wrapped around him.

“It’s so good to see you!” Ahsoka cried as she hugged him tighter before pulling back to see his face.

Obi-Wan just blinked, utterly stunned at what he was seeing. “Qui-Gon-he-he and Cody-they told me that-but I didn’t really think—”

“Yep, I’m here. In the flesh,” she replied with a smirk. She stood up and held out a hand which Obi-Wan gratefully took. “Sorry for knocking you to the ground. I was kind of running on autopilot.”

“Uh no-no apology necessary,” Obi-Wan got out, still looking a bit shaken. For a moment, it seemed like a multitude of emotions were battling for dominance on his face. Joy finally took over though and as the shock slipped away, Obi-Wan broke out into a soft smile before grabbing hold of Ahsoka and pulling her in close. “I can’t believe you’re back.”

“That makes two of us.”

“When did you get back?”

“Officially? A few days ago.”

Obi-Wan shook his head. “You should have come by immediately!”

“I’m sorry I didn’t,” Ahsoka said with a bashful smile. “I was still getting acclimated to everything.”

Finally, Obi-Wan seemed to focus on Rex’s face. He didn’t seem surprised that he was with Ahsoka. “I should have known you would have found Rex first. Let me guess. Anakin’s second and I’m third, right?” Obi-Wan said with a half-smile.

“Hey, don’t be like,” replied Ahsoka with a laugh. “You’re all important to me! Though if it helps, I did come to you first.”

“You mean Anakin doesn’t know?” Obi-Wan asked, slightly shocked.

“Padmé does. She had to cause she was involved in the legal proceedings and just stuff like that but I wanted to tell Anakin face to face. He’s off-world podracing right now though.”

Obi-Wan gave a slight nod of his head. “That’s right. It’s showing tonight. I’d nearly forgotten about that. But you do know he’ll be back tomorrow.”

“That soon?” asked Ahsoka.

“Yes, what with Padmé pregnant and everything, he tries to stay off-world as little as possible,” chuckled Obi-Wan. “The child hasn’t even been born yet and he’s already completely taken by them.”

“Not that surprising,” muttered Rex. “Have you seen how he acts around Padmé?”

Both Obi-Wan and Rex shared a quick laugh. Obi-Wan said, “Where will you be tomorrow Ahsoka?”

“Probably CT-K4F3,” she replied.

“Then I’ll get Anakin once he touches down and drag him over,” Obi-Wan replied.

Rex snorted. “If you do that, just tell him beforehand not to break anything else.”

Ahsoka looked over curiously. “Else? What happened?”

“Let’s just say Anakin’s not the most graceful when intoxicated and he decided to pay Rex and the boys a visit one night,” chuckled Obi-Wan. “Don’t worry, I’ll try to keep him under control though ‘try’ is the keyword. But enough of just standing in everyone’s way. Are you two busy right now?”

“Just exploring Coruscant until we happened to be near your work,” Rex replied.

“Then join me for-well you’re surrounded by coffee ever day-how about an early dinner?” offered Obi-Wan, with a hopeful look.

“Oh we’d love to! Wouldn’t we Rex?” Ahsoka said as she grabbed hold of Rex’s hand. “Or did you have something else in mind?”

Rex shook his head. “Dinner sounds fine with me. Can Qui-Gon join us?”

“I think so.”

Ahsoka grinned. “It will be like a double date,” she exclaimed.

Obi-Wan’s eyebrows shot up. Before Rex could say anything though, Obi-Wan slapped Rex on the arm and muttered, “It’s about time.”

“About time?!” cried Rex. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Only what I said this morning,” Ahsoka said happily. “You took to long.”

“Why is it that everyone seemed to know before me?” asked Rex.

“Because you’re too stubborn for your own good,” laughed Ahsoka.

Obi-Wan smiled as well and rolled his eyes. “That is a truth that seems to remain with a good number of our friends. But back to dinner, how does eating at my place sound?”

“If it’s better than Rex’s cooking, sure.”

“Hey! You said that it wasn’t half bad!”

“I’m teasing she laughed. But no, that sounds wonderful actually.”

Obi-Wan smiled in return. “Then follow me. I only live a few blocks down the street.”

As they finally started to move, Obi-Wan sent a communication out to Qui-Gon to ‘warn’ him of their arrival. Throughout the walk and once they were in the spacious apartment that Obi-Wan had with Qui-Gon, Rex noted that Ahsoka mostly focused on either Obi-Wan or simply told of the short few days she’d been at CT-K4F3. When she did speak of times farther back, she made sure to avoid as much about the war as possible.

Rex was thankful for that. He knew Obi-Wan probably was too on a more subconscious level as he probably didn’t notice on consciously. There was a word, or words if Rex remembered, that some high up doctor had come up with for what Obi-Wan experienced. After all, he wasn’t the only one. Plenty of other soldiers, both Force-Wielders and clones, experienced nightmares and flashbacks and hallucinations that could be triggered by different words or situations. Not enough research had been done though to really understand it besides the symptoms so it was usually best to simply avoid the triggers.

 Thankfully, Ahsoka was extremely tactful and the few times that either Rex or Qui-Gon thought she may be straying into unsafe territory, she easily picked up their queues and changed the subject.

Other than that, it was extremely enjoyable and full of laughter and joy. Of course, when Qui-Gon heard of what Rex supposed was a relationship, he also said, “What with how Ahsoka spoke about you, I knew something was there.”

Rex just rolled his eyes and the conversations continued long after dinner was finished. When Obi-Wan finally told them about his and Qui-Gon’s engagement, both of course did appropriately surprised reactions and congratulated them over and over again. After that they finally decided it was time to bid farewell. Since dinner had been early though, the night was still relatively young.

“Any good holovids out?” she asked curiously.

“I don’t know. Don’t really watch them,” admitted Rex.

“Then let’s change that.”

“And if it’s bad?”

“Then we can laugh about how awful it was,” Ahsoka replied with a smile. “The point isn’t to find a good holovid. The point is to have fun. Besides, I’ve never had time to really see a holovid. Should be great fun.”

As the last thing of the day, they went to a theater and picked out a holovid. It was completely cheesy, totally unrealistic, and Ahsoka and Rex loved every minute of it. They probably talked to loud, laughed to much, but it was really the first time that either had truly experienced just pointless, nonsensical fun.

They talked all the way back to his-no their-apartment. Once there, both grabbed their pajamas and then Ahsoka dragged him to the couch where they camped out, curled up next to each other.

“We’re very close again,” Rex commented.

“Two years I was away. Gotta make up for that time somehow,” replied Ahsoka.

As she rested her head in the crook of Rex’s shoulder, he softly ran a hand down the tail of one of her lekku. Ahsoka hummed in happiness and murmured, “That feels nice.”

“Then I won’t stop.”

“Ever?”

“Well, as nice as that sounds, I don’t think I’m physically capable of that.”

Ahsoka laughed and then kissed Rex again, soft and careful.

Pulling away, Rex softly said, “I didn’t know kisses could be that great.”

“Well, I’m certainly no expert but I do know a thing or two.” Ahsoka then looked curiously at him. “Have you never been kissed before?”

“Besides you? No. Unless you count the time Anakin had to give me mouth to mouth resuscitation but I’d rather not count that.”

She laughed again. “I don’t think I would want to count that either.” She kissed him again and then grinned. “Your turn.”

“My uh-my what?”

“Kiss me,” Ahsoka replied.

“Oh.” Rex bit his bottom. He looked at Ahsoka, her smirk firmly in place as she waited. Hesitantly, he cupped her face, similar to what she had done that morning. He paused once more before pushing forward and doing his best to mimic what Ahsoka had done. As he pressed his lips against hers, he could feel the smile on her face grow.

When they pulled apart again, she said, “Not bad. Could still use some work though.”

“Is that what most couples do? Critique each other’s kisses?”

“Are we a couple?”

“Are we not?” Rex said, suddenly very worried. “Should I use uh-partners or not put a name to it or—”

“I was just asking,” Ahsoka replied with an easy smile. “I don’t mind not putting a word to it. Or we can say couple or partners or soul mates or any number of cheesy things.”

Rex snorted but eased up too. “Soul mates huh? You want cheesy? What about Force mates?”

“Uh, that’s almost sickeningly sweet. It’s perfect!”

They both laughed in sync before they kissed each other again, warm and comfortable in their tangle of limbs. This time, they kept their kiss going just a little bit longer and the night moved on around them.


	7. Skyguy and Snips

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! For whatever reason, this chapter was hard to write but I finally got it out. A big thank you to everyone who has been reading this. I'll try to get the last chapter out this Wednesday. A big thanks again and enjoy :)

After kissing and talking some more, they stayed up to watch Anakin’s podracing before falling asleep on the couch. In the morning, Rex woke up to the feeling of stretching out of the grip he had on her.

With a sigh, she said, “I almost hate that you have work again.”

“Hey, a week from now I won’t.”

“That is true,” grinned Ahsoka.

“And Anakin is coming today.”

She perked up at that. “I can’t wait to see him. It’s been to long.”

“Well, I know he’ll be overjoyed over it all,” Rex said. Reluctantly, they both got up and started to get ready for the day.

As they did, Ahsoka added, “I almost wish that you were off again.”

“Well, I will be next week and, if you want, I can always shove everything on Fives and Echo.”

“Ah, all alone by themselves? Do you think they can handle it?”

“No,” Rex deadpanned. “They’d probably succeed in setting everything on fire.”

“I know you have more faith in them than that,” she chuckled.

Letting out a sigh, he nodded in agreement. “I do have faith in them, for the most part. But I have to tease them now, even if they’re not in the room, because I know they are going to be relentless when we get there.”

“Why?”

“Well, because of us.”

“You want to tell them about us?”

“Oh I didn’t-I mean I guess that was me kind of implying it but I-if you want but I just figured—”

“I’m just teasing you again Rex,” Ahsoka replied as she walked over and kissed him on the cheek. “Sorry but you’re just so sweet when you blush like that.”

Rex bashfully looked down and rubbed the back of his head. “Well I’m glad you do. And uh…I guess if it’s alright with you I-I don’t mind people knowing.”

“So you do want to tell them?”

“Yeah I…yeah I do! Two fucking years you’ve been missing and even longer we’ve been partners and never done anything about. Yeah I’ll tell them. I’ll shout it from the rooftops!”

Ahsoka gave a shout of joy at that as she punched the air and then hugged Rex tight. “Yes! I love it! Just don’t get arrested for public disturbance, okay?”

He laughed. “I’ll certainly try.”

After that, they finished getting ready and Rex and Ahsoka headed over to CT-K4F3. Upon entering, Fives and Echo were both already there, which was surprising and in and of itself, but also the entire place was ready for the day, and they both cheered and cried, “Yes finally!”

“How do you even know?!” cried out Rex, not even having to ask because honestly, what else could they be talking about?

“You mean besides the fact that you two are holding hands?” grinned Echo.

“Well that certainly wouldn’t explain why you are both here early and have everything set up,” Rex replied after he rolled his eyes.

“What? Can’t we just be good employees?” Fives asked.

Rex snorted, “No.”

“Well, you’d be right,” laughed Fives.

“Yep, right,” Echo agreed. “Dogma told us.”

Rex balked at that. Though formerly part of the 501st, so of course they did keep in contact, Dogma was still off world and mostly out of the loop so why he’d heard of him and Ahsoka getting together was a mystery. “How in all the Galaxy did he find out?”

“Tup told him,” Fives said.

Again, another clone that wasn’t on Coruscant and therefore made very little sense as to how he could have known. “But who told him?”

“Shaak Ti,” said Echo.

“Wait, the General?”

“Yeah.”

“How the hell did she find out!?”

“Lama Su.”

Rex put his head in his hands. “And her?”

“Waxer.”

“And him?”

“Boil.”

“Well they just go hand in hand,” groaned Rex. “What about _after_ them?”

“Padmé.”

“Seriously? Well, who told her?”

“That friend of hers, Chancellor Organa.”

“How-just-urgh-and him…?”

“Cody of course.”

“And…”

“Well, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon.”

Ahsoka burst into laughter at that as Rex let his head fall back and he let out another groan. Ahsoka added, “Well, I guess neither of us will have to shout it from the rooftops. It seems that everyone else has done it for us.”

“I can’t believe this,” Rex said. Part of him was slightly in shock over how the information had traveled in such a long and unexpected way. However, it also oddly felt thrilling and good that it was out, that people knew. It wasn’t that he cared what they thought, it was more of the idea that he actually had a life in the first place that had anything remotely interesting in it to talk about.

That, and having it out in the open made it feel even more real. It helped to remind him that such relationships weren’t banned like before, that he could love who he wanted to and act on that without being reprimanded like normal people (Force he was a normal person now, at least as normal as he’d ever be).

Again, the idea was wonderful and Rex just had to smile. He smiled even more when Echo and Fives said in unison, “We knew there had to have been something going on. Besides, you two were just too perfect for each other.”

“I’m glad you think so,” laughed Ahsoka.

Rex just shook his head, his own laugh running through his entire body. However, he did say, “Still, you haven’t explained why both of you got here early and did all the work yourselves instead of waiting for us.”

“You guys spent the entire day yesterday tramping around Coruscant. You guys could have slept the day away for all we knew,” replied Fives.

Rex rolled his eyes again. “It’s Coruscant. Not Ryloth in the middle of a civil war.”

“Hey, if you don’t like our help, then we won’t give it next time,” Echo mock pouted.

“Don’t worry, we are both very thankful for you doing everything this morning,” Ahsoka said. “Aren’t we Rex?”

“Yeah yeah what-oh! I nearly forgot to warn you guys. Anakin is coming today.”

“Hide the mugs!” cried Echo.

“Hurry, grab the valuables!” Fives yelled.

Ahsoka howled with laughter as they pretended to rush about. “He can’t be that bad,” she laughed.

“I guess you’ll just have to wait and see. This place practically becomes a danger zone whenever he’s around,” Rex replied.

She just laughed again and for a while, the four of them talked and joked a bit as they waited for the opening hour to hit them. When the first customers started to come in, Rex, Fives, and Echo went to work as Ahsoka went job hunting on the holonet, finding what she could about some of the places she and Rex had visited the day before and even managed to find some new places as well.

Some time past the lunch hours, Padmé appeared again. Rex waved to her but for the moment, Echo and Fives and him focused on work as they had gotten the usual flood of customers that came with the beginning of every week. Padmé went and sat with Ahsoka where both hugged and greeted each other.

“From what Rex has told me, you usually don’t get leisure time that often and you’ve barely had a chance to come here,” Ahsoka said. “Yet three times in less than seven days.”

“I know, I’m going to set up unrealistic expectations,” Padmé chuckled. “Honestly, the first time was pure luck, the second was because I was hoping you’d be here, and now because I know Anakin is coming here and traveling to CT-K4F3 is shorter than traveling to the port that Anakin’s arriving at.”

Ahsoka chuckled at that. “Well, I’m happy you’re here. It gives us more time to talk. Also, have you heard about the apparent wreckage that Anakin caused in here?”

“Oh, of course!” laughed Padmé. “He’ll probably be even worse since you’re here.”

“You have to tell everything that happened. I’ve only heard…”

They went back and forth, only taking a break for Padmé to actually get up and grab something to drink. Thirty minutes pasted as the Clones continued to deal with customers. The crowd was starting to thin out now that lunch was behind them and most had to go back to work, yet there were still enough to create quite a stir when two men came running by the store in a flurry before likely skidding to a stop a ways down the street before turning back, running again, and then bursting through the doors.

Anakin had apparently dragged Obi-Wan there as fast he could like someone pulling their pet behind on a leash. He let go of Obi-Wan (the older man quickly had to bend over, gasping from wherever they had run from), as Anakin’s head whipped around once, twice, before finally spotting Padmé and then finally Ahsoka.

“Snips!”

“Skyguy!”

Ahsoka jumped up and ran to meet Anakin (the latter succeeding in actually knocking over an entire table). Grabbing a hold of Ahsoka, he lifted her up in the air and hugged her like he didn’t have a single intention of letting her go again, which Rex could completely understand.

Rex walked over to fix the table before going to check on Obi-Wan while Anakin and Ahsoka just continued to rock back and forth.

“You alright there?”

“Yes,” gasped Obi-Wan as he brushed his hair out of his eyes. “I just think…I may have…should have…waited…to tell him…about Ahsoka…” he finally got out.

Rex laughed. “You guys run all the way from the nearest bus station?”

“No…we ran…all the way…from the landing bay.”

“What! That’s like five miles!”

Obi-Wan shot I glower at Anakin though it of course didn’t stay long (the man had always found it hard staying mad at the young man). He shook his head and seemed to finally catch his breath as he muttered, “Believe me, I know. I probably should have just dragged him here rather than saying, hey we need to go to CT-K4F3 cause Ahsoka.”

“Cause Ahsoka…?”

“That’s all I said. He didn’t give me a chance to even finish the sentence before he grabbed and dragged me off.”

Laughing again, Rex couldn’t help but smirk. “Well, at least you’ve learned your lesson now. Just let Anakin find out about the surprise himself. It will probably be better for your health.”

“Probably,” agreed Obi-Wan with a roll of his eyes.

Then they both turned their focus back to Anakin and Ahsoka. The young man had finally dropped Ahsoka back to the floor but they were still hugging tightly.

“When did you get back!”

“About five days ago.”

“And you didn’t tell me!?”

“I wanted to do it face to face,” Ahsoka replied. “Besides, you had a podracing match. Good game by the way. Rex and I saw it.”

Right away, they seemed to lapse into a natural feel for each other like no time had passed at all. It made Rex smile and he gave them a bit of privacy (at least as much as anyone could give when Anakin practically shouted half his words) and Padmé and Obi-Wan followed suit.

Rex went back to work with Echo and Fives as Padmé and Obi-Wan chatted off to the side as Anakin got up with Ahsoka and vice versa. At one point, Ahsoka did drag the attention off of herself a bit as she pointed over to Obi-Wan at the next table and added, “Oh I think there’s something Obi-Wan wants to tell you.”

Slightly put off by the sudden attention, it took Obi-Wan a moment to get his words right and even then, he mumbled them to much for Anakin to fully understand them. After repeating them for the third time with enough volume, Anakin gave an audible gasp and then rushed to Obi-Wan.

“Anakin! Put me down!”

“How can I?! You’re getting married! When is it? Where is it? What are you—”

“You know” cried out Rex, “you two are kind of disrupting out _quiet_ and _calm_ atmosphere that we pride ourselves on.”

“Hey, blame Anakin,” Obi-Wan replied. He succeeded in keeping his grumpy face for only about ten seconds more before he broke into a smile again.

“So who’s your best man? It’s me right? It’s gotta be me. I mean who else would it be?” scoffed Anakin.

“Actually, I picked Padmé.”

“Wait-but that doesn’t-I mean, not that you’re a bad choice or anything sweetheart but I mean-I thought that—”

Obi-Wan erupted into giggles as his head fell against Anakin’s chest. “Of course it’s you Anakin. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“You’re an asshole,” Anakin replied with a playful swat. “But that’s why I love you.”

Obi-Wan laughed again and after that, talk stayed on Obi-Wan and the wedding and everything that had yet to be done (they hadn’t set a date yet, only really having just decided they were going to do it) before the topic of conversation went back to Ahsoka. This time, Obi-Wan and Padmé joined in too though and Rex and the other two clones interrupted a bit more and involved themselves in the conversation as they divided their attention between friends and the customers.

When the conversation changed again, it was on to the child that he and Padmé were going to have. Rex hadn’t seen Anakin in full doting mode since his wedding and though it was clear that it probably did get somewhat tiresome at times, it was ultimately incredibly sweet and endearing how much he cared. Anakin and Padmé playfully fought over whether the child was a boy or girl. Padmé was going with boy but Anakin claimed it had to be a girl what with how active the fetus already seemed to be.

Once Anakin had gotten out his energy over his unborn child, he moved back to Ahsoka. Finally she was able to talk about her time on Coruscant for the past five days. She talked about all the new things she’d seen on the day trip, the fun at Qui-Gon’s and Cody’s gym, how she’d made the entrance with the poetry and everything (which Anakin greatly approved of the level of drama involved in that), before she finally commented, “And I’m dating someone.”

The way that Ahsoka said ‘dating’ made Rex’s insides practically melt in happiness. However, out of anyone that she could have said that in front of, seeing Anakin there when she said made Rex kind of flinch. Not because he didn’t want his former general to know but because he was ninety-nine percent positive that Anakin would immediately go into big brother role.

“You’re dating,” Anakin said slowly.

“Yes,” chuckled Ahsoka. “I also eat food and sleep like most people.”

“But you’re…”

“Before you even say to young, I was part of an army, like you, from six months. I don’t think I’ve ever been young.”

“Yeah but-well I mean-who?”

“You know him.”

“And?”

“You know him pretty well,” Ahsoka added.

“That doesn’t help! Just tell me who,” whined Anakin.

“Well, I’ll give you one more hint though it’s a rather vague one.”

“ _Snips_!”

“Just wait until after I give you the hint,” Ahsoka grinned. “He was the best man at your wedding.”

Anakin frowned for a second like he honestly couldn’t remember who was his best man before it suddenly hit him and his eyes widened. “But-but-but-but—”

“I think you broke him,” Obi-Wan whispered.

“-but-but-but he’s so _old_.”

“I am in the room and I am twenty-five you ass!” yelled Rex.

Anakin completely ignored him and continued to balk at Ahsoka. “Why? I mean, how did this even come about? You guys had zero chemistry.”

Padmé actually laughed at that. “Oh Ani, I think you’re the only one who never noticed anything.”

“But I just-I can’t-he’s to _old_.”

“Twenty-five is not that bad!” Rex cried out.

“But the age gap,” Anakin whined.

“Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are nearly twenty years apart! Nine is not that bad! Besides, why are you so fixated with the age?”

“Because it’s the only thing I can critique,” muttered Anakin.

“Technically, our age gap is less than three years,” Ahsoka tried as she shot Rex an apologetic look.

“Oh Force, that’s right! You’re dating a minor Ahsoka. You can’t date a minor. Yep, calling it off, sorry Rex but it can’t happen,” Anakin replied.

Rex groaned again and then stomped out from around the counter and then actually picked up Anakin by his cuff.

“Alright, _Skyguy_ ,” Rex said as he did air quotes, “I get it, Ahsoka has been like your little sister, you’ve both been through a lot, and you love each other a great deal. I get that. But for the first time in my life I am happy, I see myself having a future, I want to have a future, I feel like I can move past that horrid war, and it’s all because of her so don’t think for a second that you can try to just pick something at random and use that to discourage either of us.”

“That was hot.”

Rex’s intimidating posture was made null as he ducked his head and his face went red at Ahsoka’s words.

However, Anakin surprisingly didn’t seem to freak out and instead let a smirk lose as he patted Rex on the back. “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear.”

“What? That Rex is hot?” teased Obi-Wan.

“Well, I think we can all agree on that,” Anakin grinned, easily playing along.

“Definitely,” agreed Ahsoka.

“You guys do realize my face is on like a million other people, right?” muttered Rex as he rolled his eyes and tried to hide his embarrassment.

“Yeah,” Padmé said as she joined in the teasing, “but there’s just something about you that’s like…extra attractive.”

“Yep!” Fives agreed from behind the counter.

Echo pretended to fan himself. “It’s almost to much working with you Captain.”

“Alright I hate all you,” Rex said as he pointed a finger at everyone, “but you especially.”

Anakin just laughed as the pointed finger lingered on him. “Naw, you can’t help but love me.”

“I’m starting to rethink that,” Rex replied. He did his best to stomp of but truthfully, that was kind of lie. Honestly, he couldn’t think of a time where he’d been happier and the way Ahsoka’s smile lingered on him just made it all the better.


	8. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is probably shorter than you were expecting but it is the epilogue and I couldn't find anything else to put in it. It just felt complete. Hopefully you'll agree. Thank you for reading this odd au of mine, for leaving comments and kudos. Thank you and please enjoy this final chapter :)

The gorgeous, fancy, blue outfit tinged with gold that Ahsoka had bought was finally being worn nearly a year later. Rex had on an appropriate suit that went well with Ahsoka’s. They stood together, each holding one of the twins (what a surprise that had been), as Padmé was off talking to Bail and Obi-Wan, and Anakin was annoying the Clones that had formerly been a part of the 212th.

Rex was holding Leia who he already liked more. She got in her own fair share of trouble but at least she didn’t pull at his still relatively new beard like Luke did. For the moment, Ahsoka had Luke who was chewing on one of her head tails with his still toothless mouth.

“Doesn’t that hurt?” chuckled Rex.

“Naw, he doesn’t have any teeth yet. Besides, it’s better than ruining my outfit,” she replied with a laugh. “Not that I know when or where I’m going to ever wear this again besides Obi-Wan’s and Qui-Gon’s wedding but…”

Rex laughed in return. The ceremony had been small and those present were a majority of the 212th which of course included Cody, Bail and Breha, Anakin and Padmé, the twins, Fives and Echo, and of course Rex and Ahsoka. The size was perfect for Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon, quaint and simple. After the vows were over, dancing and eating had occurred. Now things had died down a bit but since no one seemed ready to leave, everyone was really just mingling about (ultimately a much calmer atmosphere than Anakin’s and Padmé’s).

In response to Ahsoka’s words though, Rex replied, “Other events that cause for fancy dress will show up.”

“Hmm, like what?”

“Well, there’s that gala that Anakin has been begging us to come to so that we can make fun of everyone while Padmé and Bail play politics.”

“There is that,” chuckled Ahsoka.

“And I mean…well you could…never mind.”

“You don’t get to do that,” Ahsoka said as she nudged him in the side. “Keep going.”

He shook his head though looking down bashfully. “No it’s-I mean it’s only been a year and just…no I’ll…I’ll tell you some other time.”

“Uh huh.”

“I’m serious,” Rex replied but even to his own ears he didn’t exactly sound truthful.

Ahsoka just rolled her eyes in response. “You sure?”

“ _Yes_.”

She snorted. “In that case, there’s something I have to do. Here, hold Luke.”

Rather smoothly, she detached the little boy from her and pushed him into Rex’s arms. He was rather shocked at the suddenness of it as he had to readjust Leia to hold them both. For a split second, a feeling of worry moved through Rex as he expected Ahsoka to walk off (and hopefully not stomp off) but instead she stayed right there. She raised her brow at him, like she was giving him one last chance to say more, but Rex kept his mouth shut.

Ahsoka rolled her eyes and then-oh. _Oh_.

Getting down on one knee, Ahsoka looked up at Rex and let a smirk appear on her face. “CT-7567, Captain Rex, formerly of the 501st Battalion, will you marry me?”

Rex couldn’t help but look at her with a stunned expression. He mentally berated himself for backing down and not asking first. As his mouth tried to work with his brain, they seemed to be spotted as Anakin let out a loud whoop that was quickly silenced by what sounded like a hard punch to his midsection but Rex didn’t actually see that. He only had eyes for Ahsoka.

She didn’t seem troubled by the time that it was taking for him to respond, if anything, her grin just seemed to widen as he tried to make his mouth work. Eventually, his lips moved in the right response and once he did that, he repeated the movement, only this time he pushed air out as well so that the word was audible.

“Yes.”

Ahsoka jumped up and pulled Rex into a hard kiss, squishing Luke and Leia between them. The twins didn’t seem to mind though as it just gave them access to twice the amount of items to grab. Anakin let out another whoop while everyone else clapped.

Rex and Ahsoka slowly pulled back from each other, lingering in the moment. They stared into each other’s eyes, pure joy moving through them. The moment was broken though when Rex was finally able to tear his eyes away from Ahsoka and found that Anakin had practically materialized right next to them.

“Force don’t do that again!”

Anakin ignored that and instead immediately went into rambling. “I’m going to be your best man right? Or should I be-nope can’t choose! Alright, so I’m the best man for both you and obviously you are going to have the greatest bachelor party, cause Obi-Wan wouldn’t let me do one for him, and you are going to having a smashing bachelorette party and we need to decide if everything will be on Coruscant or if you want off planet or—”

“Hey Skyguy,” interrupted Ahsoka with a grin, “you keep talking and you’re going to be no one’s best man.”

“I’m just trying to help,” pouted Anakin.

“Well, let’s finish this wedding first before we move onto another one,” Rex suggested with a laugh.

“Fine,” Anakin said as he rolled his eyes. He then went in for Luke and Leia and as he grabbed his kids, he added, “But we are having a proper sit down and discussing this.”

“Whatever you say Anakin,” Ahsoka grinned.

When he started to walk off, Rex couldn’t help but mutter, “I don’t know how Obi-Wan was able to handle him.”

“Neither do I,” laughed Ahsoka, “but I think with both of us there, we can take him. Thanks for saying yes by the way.”

“What else would I have said?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t have let you say anything but yes,” Ahsoka grinned, “but still…thanks.”

“I’ll say it again,” Rex replied.

“Please.”

“Yes. Yes I’ll marry you.”

Ahsoka kissed him again, her smile clear against Rex’s lips.


End file.
